Founded by Zahid Bhatti in 2013
Founded by Zahid Bhatti in 2013
If Zahid encounters a problem in any area of life, he is not the sort of person to ignore it or leave it to others to sort out. This is best exemplified with his commitment to increase awareness of organ donation in order to encourage more people to come forward as donors.
Zahid is acutely aware of the need for more kidney donors. For many years he was on dialysis, travelling to London three times a week from his home in Birmingham for treatment lasting up to four hours each time at Whipps Cross Hospital.
He later received a successful kidney transplant, at the second attempt, and he is able to lead a normal life. However more than 120 people in England die every day because of chronic kidney disease.
Zahid never forgot the care he received by the NHS as a renal patient, consequently he has become an outstanding champion representative of the kidney patients ever since. This resulted in the establishment of GKF.
The GKF’s mission is to increase the number of organ donors in the UK, raise awareness of kidney disease, increase education about the condition and demystify misconceptions about organ transplantation particularly within Britain’s ethnic minority communities.
Under his leadership, the GKF has a team of around 20 volunteers who give regular talks and presentations around the country. The ethos of the foundation is “Give Hope, Give Life” and its particularly focus is to reach out to Britain’s minority ethnic communities to dispel myths over organ donation and overcome cultural barriers that prevent some people from giving their consent to being a donor. Zahid has led the GKF in organising many events in Mosques, Sikh temples and other community centres, offering free health checks at the same time. Other events attended by GKF representatives and trustees include the Nachural Business Awards, the Multi-Cultural Business and Community Champion Awards (MBCCA) and Capital Business Hub events, and GKF sponsors the British Transplant Games and the World Transplant Games. Zahid’s tireless passion to spread the message about organ donation has seen him form partnerships with many high-profile organisations.
He organises an annual gala in London which attracts media attention and more than 200 people, but which reaches many, many times that number due to international media coverage. Each gala raises about £4,000 for the Renal Department at the Royal London Hospital.
As a result of an initiative by Zahid, GKF was chosen as Charity of the Year by international beauty pageant organisation Miss Generation and the galas are supported by beauty queens from around the world. This enables GKF to deliver life-saving messages all year round to a wide audience.
Other celebrity supporters include actress Lea Mornar, celebrity fashion designer Venera Tabakin, Miss Pakistan 2018 Taniya Khan, and leading Pakistani actress Reema Khan, star of many Lollywood films.
In 2018 and 2019, Zahid led the GKF in rolling out a series of free community health checks in Birmingham and London in a first-of-its-kind project co-funded by NHS Blood and Transplant.
The project - Free Community Health Checks & Organ Donation promotion - was hugely successful, exceeding targets and expectations.
The free health checks, conducted by trained nurses and medical staff, provided an opportunity to discuss organ donation, with the result that well over 100 people registered on the NHS Organ Donor list.
In addition, over the course of five community events, GKF volunteers had 409 individual conversations and the total the number of people reached by the events/ talks and leaflets exceeded 2,000.
The health screenings also contributed to kidney disease prevention as they comprised of blood pressure and blood glucose screenings. Nurses also gave advice to the person, based on the results of the tests.
Here is a timeline of some GKF events held in recent years
Presentation to the Pakistan Kidney Patients Association
Nominated charity for Midlands Business Community & Charity Award
Reception to Asian TV, radio and newspaper journalists
Birmingham Signature Awards
Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
Birmingham Musical night with Mr Jas Worah
Wolverhampton Nachural Summer Business Ball
Leicester Natural Entrepreneurship Awards
London White Palace Gala Dinner
Birmingham Multi-cultural Business Community & Charity Award
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce annual dinner
A1 TV annual award in Birmingham
All Pakistan Women Association
Birmingham Council
Sikh Temple Birmingham
British Transplant Games
All that hardships from start up to large scale charity innitiatives
Founded by Zahid Bhatti in 2006, UKCAB is a community development not for profit organization that offers services as well as technical and planning assistance to sectors like education, water supply and renal failure issues.
More DetailsThe school takes pride in its commitment to providing the best learning environment for its students, who are motivated to excel and feel safe.
More DetailsCharity was founded in 2006 and aims to be a community development non-profit organization that offers food and basic necessities to those in need amongst our local community.
More DetailsArabica café is where the heart of our charity lies with the help of our friendly staff, we are able to support those most in need in the most dignified way possible.
More DetailsThe main aim of the charity is to serve humanity and provide support, practical advice, recreational activities and education among the general public and organisations.
More DetailsEspecially countries like Pakistan where people struggle to access these services. That was the main aim of establishing the medical facility, M H Memorial Hospital, our first free health care hospital in Faisal Town Lahore, Pakistan.
More DetailsFounded by Zahid Bhatti in 2024, Tahaffuz Darsgah, the pioneering transgender school in Pakistan. Situated near Jallo Park in Lahore, Tahaffuz Darsgah stands as the first-ever shelter and education center exclusively dedicated to transgender children.
At Tahaffuz Darsgah, we are committed to providing a safe haven and top-notch education under one roof. Our state-of-the-art facilities offer O- and A-levels education, alongside accommodation and vocational training programs. We believe in empowering transgender individuals to excel in all aspects of their lives.
More DetailsMedia Coverage & Events
Copyrights © Zahid Bhatti. All rights reserved
