The Number

10

Million

Nearly 10 million patients suffering from rare diseases in China are facing difficulties receiving proper diagnosis and treatment, a medical expert was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying on Sunday. Speaking at a conference on rare diseases in Beijing, Ding Jie, deputy director of the Peking University First Hospital, said many patients failed to get a correct diagnosis. This is because of doctors' limited medical knowledge about rare diseases, most of which are genetic and therefore difficult to confirm.