Some 2.5 million cataract operations will be done in China in the coming five years, according to the second-phase plans for the Eyesight Program, part of Sight First China Action.
In the next five years, 100 medical teams will be sent to remote areas where cataract operations cannot be done. China hopes that all county-level hospitals will be able do such operations by 2007.
From 2002 to 2006, medical teams will treat cataract patients in remote and less-developed areas. All the patients will be treated free of charge.
It is hoped the Tibet Autonomous Region will become a cataract-free region in the coming years, sources said.
Sight First China Action is a program jointly funded by the Disabled Persons' Federation of China and the International Association of Lions Clubs. The first stage of the program treated 1.75 million cataract patients throughout China between 1997 and 2001.
(People's Daily September 6, 2002)
