Medical personnel from the China Overseas-Educated Scholars Development Foundation accompany Tibetan patients with Kashin-Beck disease as they go to a hospital in Beijing. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

Twelve Tibetan patients with Kashin-Beck disease, or KBD, a disorder of the bones and joints, have arrived Beijing for free medical treatment at Peking University People's Hospital.

Traveling more than 2,800 kilometers from Lhorong county in the Tibet autonomous region, the patients are the first with the disorder to receive treatment this year. They are supported by the China Overseas-Educated Scholars Development Foundation and the Beijing Joint Care Foundation, which have been working years to relieve the illness in Tibet.