BEIJING -- Doctors Thursday called for immediate diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease when about 1.7 percent of Chinese people above 65 were overtaken by this disease.

Early diagnosis and intervention of doctors is very important for controlling Parkinson's disease, which is chronic progressive, said Chen Biao, chairman of the China Parkinson Alliance and chief of the Parkinson's Disease Research and Treatment Center of Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, at an event on the World Parkinson's Disease Day, which falls on Thursday.

China now has about 500 clinics for Parkinson's disease, where patients can receive interdisciplinary long-term treatment, Chen said.

"It is not the end of the world when a person is caught by this disease," said Chen Haibo, director of the Neurology Department of Beijing Hospital, at the same event. "With professional treatment and intervention patients can live a quality life."

The China Parkinson Alliance sponsored the National Parkinson's Disease Free Clinic Week, joined by 60 hospitals, to increase public awareness of the disease.

China has more than 3 million Parkinson's disease patients, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total in the world, according to the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders.