THE Bolton Evening News is urging more people to sign up to its Gift of Life campaign.

The NHS Organ Donor Register launched a campaign in October, 2004, to recruit an extra one million lifesavers in a year.

There is less than one month left to go, but UK Transplant is still 50,000 names short of the goal it has set itself to give hope to the thousands of people waiting for a new organ.

Maxine Walter, from UK Transplant, said: "The response so far has been wonderful, and underlines the huge support that exists for organ donation in the UK."

In Bolton there are currently 48 people on the waiting list for an organ transplant - 42 require a kidney, one a pancreas, one a heart, one needs two lungs, another needs a heart and lungs and the final one needs a liver.

The number of people on the donor register in Bolton is half that of Stockport - a borough with a similar population.

Just 66,680 people have signed up to the organ donor register in Bolton, compared with 132,155 in Stockport.

When the Bolton Evening News launched its Gift of Life campaign in July, the head of the boroughs organ and tissue donation group, Dr Sarah Thornton, warned that patients could die waiting for a replacement organ because of a lack of donors in the borough.

She said: "We are not at crisis point yet, but the situation is very grave.

"People are dying, and because of a shortage of organs there is nothing we can do about it."

Anyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register by phoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 6060400 or by visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk

Alternatively, you can fill in and return the coupon here.