In addition to regularly seeing patients in a clinic, Wang Qiang, a doctor at the Sport Hospital Attached to Chengdu Sport Institute, in Chengdu, Sichuan province, previously had to travel hundreds of kilometers to provide treatment or medical guidance to athletes on provincial sports teams.

"Sometimes the athletes get intensive training in very remote places, and at night," he said. "It can be very difficult for me to go to the site to treat the injured."

Although each team has a doctor who follows them during training and contests, Wang is still asked to provide guidance in cases with complex conditions, Wang said.

But Wang's burden was largely eased half a year ago when he started to use an online platform to communicate with team doctors about diagnoses and treatment.

"We can connect to Wuzhen Internet Hospital through WeChat, so we can talk on video," he said. "For most injuries I don't have to go to the site and can provide consultation online."

Wuzhen Internet Hospital, the first of its kind in China, was launched in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, last year, and had provided services to more than 1 million patients by the end of July, according to Ye Qiujie, a marketing manager at We Doctor Group, which operates the hospital.

Doctors can advise patients, and doctors can communicate between themselves. Doctors can also give prescriptions, and drugs can be sent to patients through online shops.

The Chinese government has been encouraging the integration of health and medical care services with internet technologies so that people, including those living in less-developed areas, can have better and more accessible services.

This resulted in a number of internet-based health and medical care platforms emerging in recent years. Chunyuyisheng.com, for example, one of China's largest, had more than 90 million registered users by the end of last year, with nearly 100,000 doctors providing advisory services to patients across China every day, according to Wang Jianguo, deputy CEO of the company.

A national health and medical care information platform open to the public will be built by 2020, according to a guideline released by the State Council in June aimed at promoting and regulating the development of online health services.

Jin Xiaotao, deputy minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said an urgent task is to create standards to avoid possible risks during the development of the sector.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn