New Delhi: Can a person who has no family donor be allowed to advertise to get a volunteer for a kidney transplant?

This is a question on which the Delhi High Court today sought the views of the government.

The issue was raised by a patient who drew the attention of the court that in case of celebrities, media attention makes it easy for them to get volunteer donors, but common citizens do not have a right to avail the benefit of advertisements.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, who is seized with the matter, asked the Ministry for Family Health and Welfare to look into various aspects of the transplantation of kidney raised by the petitioner.

The judge also sought the views of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), the apex centre for registry, procurement and distribution of organs and tissues and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on the plea of the patient who has narrated his ordeal of 15 long years.

The response of NOTTO was sought as the patient has prayed for scrapping of the body which maintains a registry of donations and transplantation of organs and tissues.

The patient, Vinod Kumar Anand, lost his kidneys and the one donated by his wife due to renal problems.

During the hearing, the court asked the patient's advocate, Ashok Aggarwal, to explore the possibility of kidney exchange between his family and that of someone else who also required the organ.

Kidney exchange or 'swap' is a simple barter system in which a swap pair consists of a recipient (patient) and a donor (a family member).

A swap transplant involves an exchange of organs between two families, who cannot donate the organ to their own family member because of a blood group mismatch.