The health ministry plans to question Kanazawa University Hospital officials to clarify how unlicensed brokers approached doctors there to help patients receive organ transplants overseas.
The decision came after the Ishikawa Prefecture hospital announced Monday that one of its doctors handed a referral form to a patient who is believed to be considering a transplant in China, ministry sources said.
It has been reported that a man who allegedly brokered organ transplants overseas illegally approached the doctor in an effort to arrange for a patient to receive a transplant in China, seeking a letter of request in the doctor's name.
Some Chinese hospitals are suspected of taking organs from executed inmates and people desperate for money who sell their organs.
Japan's medical ethics code bans transplant operations using organs harvested in such ways.
Commenting on the report, the university said the doctor did not cooperate with the broker. Neither were identified.