Britain’s first three-way series of kidney transplant is all set to take place within a matter of weeks. The transplants will involve three donors and three recipients, couples, siblings or relatives. Because of incompatible blood group or tissue type, donors cannot directly get their kidneys transplanted to a relative or friend. Therefore to end this problem, donors donate their kidneys into a pool of donors where doctors check the compatibility with other sets of relatives or friends.

All three kidney transplant will take place simultaneously before the end of the year. Last month, doctors carried out the matching process and identified a group of six people to exchange kidneys. This will be the first three-way kidney swap in this country. It will allow more patients to benefit from a matching kidney.

Ever since the new legislation in the Human Tissue Act has been legalized, there have been 36 kidney swaps between couples, relatives and friends in Britain. In USA and Korea, more complicated swaps have taken place which extended for several days and required specialists.

The transplants in Britain are being done secretly, without identifying the donor and the receipt until after the transplant. More than 7,000 patients on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

The Human Tissue Authority which regulates transplants is confident about worthwhile risk taking.