In October, Nguyen, a man in Vietnam who has the inherited blood disorder thalassemia, successfully booked an online appointment with a medical expert in China.
The man, who only wanted to be known by his surname, constantly feels tired, is short of breath and appears pale.
An online platform enabled him to make an appointment with an expert working at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Thalassemia is common in Asia, the Mediterranean area and the Middle East. In Asia, it affects mostly people from southern China and countries in the southeast of the continent.