According to government figures, patients from black and minority ethnic backgrounds wait, on average, twice as long for kidney transplants as white patients, because of the shortage of suitable organs. A week-long awareness- raising campaign is set to launch on Glasgow's largest Asian radio station, Awaz FM, today. Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "It's a stark reality that more than a quarter of the people waiting for a transplant are from black and minority ethnic communities. "A transplant is much more likely to be successful if the donor and recipient have the same ethnic origin, but less than 5 per cent of organ donors are from these communities. "The shortage of suitable organs means that waiting times for black, South Asian, Chinese and other groups are much longer. That's a state of affairs that can't go on." Dr Rajan Madhok, who has been involved in raising awareness, said: "Organ donation is a difficult and often taboo subject within BME communities. We are working to educate everyone about the process."