The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a response from the Health Ministry on a plea by a kidney patient, asking whether such patients with no donor in the family could be allowed to advertise for donor.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the Centre to look into various aspects of kidney transplant, raised by petitioner Vinod Kumar Anand who requires a transplant after damage to both his kidneys as well as the one donated by his wife. Anand said in case of celebrities, media attention makes it easy for them to get voluntary donors, but common people do not have the right to avail of the benefit of advertisements.

The court asked Anand's lawyer Ashok Aggarwal to explore the possibilities of reciprocal organ exchange between the family of petitioner and some other patient who requires a transplant. The organ exchange involves reciprocal donation of organs by two families, who otherwise cannot donate the organ required to their own family member because of blood group mismatch.