According to regulations, a man will be diagnosed with thalassemia if his hemoglobin (HGB) is lower than 120 g/L. "But how can they be seen as thalassemia patients? They are only carriers, with HGB higher than the minimum level," Huang told China Daily.

Some 31 students who were diagnosed as thalassemia gene carriers were refused civil servant jobs by Foshan human resources authorities last year, according to Xie, one of the three plaintiffs.

They were asked by the Foshan personnel department to undergo a physical examination after they passed tests and interviews last April.

Xie also did not pass the physical tests because he is a carrier of the thalassemia gene.

"But the relevant regulation for civil servant jobs does not specify that thalassemia gene carriers cannot pass the physical test," Xie had said in an earlier interview.

Of the 31 applicants who were denied civil servant jobs, 27 are natives of Guangdong province, which is one of the provinces with the highest rates of thalassemia.

In Guangdong, one in nine people, or about 12 percent of its population, have developed thalassemia, a form of chronic anemia, according to the Guangzhou-based Southern Hospital.

"Thalassemia gene carriers with light symptoms usually do not develop physical signs. In reality, they are no different from others in terms of working and living," said Li Chunfu, a doctor with the hospital.