The city's medical experts and social workers are calling for establishing an association for patients suffering from neurological and muscular disorders and their families.

The West already has various governmental and non-governmental organizations supporting patients and their families, especially during the tough period when patients get weaker and weaker.

However, China lags behind on the issue, according to the Neuro-Muscular Disease Association of China.

Muscular dystrophy is a broad term that describes genetically inherited disorder of the muscles. It causes the muscles to become very weak with progressive disability and eventually loss of life.

At present, the global incidence of MD is one in every 3,000 to 4,000 people, and there is as yet no cure for it.

The World Health Organization has ranked the disease as one of the five most serious global ailments, including AIDS and cancer, doctors said.

"If a person is diagnosed with MD, it destroys the family," said Chen Minjuan, whose brother and two sons suffer from Duc-henne's muscular dystrophy. "I've felt so hopeless at times."

Chen is not alone. Thousands of local families are feeling the same pain, pushing the association toward setting up a special organization to enhance medical research and provide patients and families with help.

"The plan for setting up the body, the country's first, has been okayed by the Shanghai Federation for Disabled Persons. It's awaiting approval from the Ministry of Civil Affairs," said Zhu Changqing of the association and an MD patient herself.

She said the new association will provide general education and updated information on research of the disease to patients.

According to Zhu, some patients and their families have joined in preparatory work for the organization, translating foreign papers and sharing experiences.