Cataract sufferers in west China will benefit from a free
operation program launched this month in the remote western
province of Qinghai.
Some 250 cataract patients in the province will receive free
operations, part of a total of about 1,000 in western provinces and
autonomous regions.
Doctors and nurses from the People's Hospital of Beijing have
arrived in the provincial capital and will join local medical staff
to perform the operations.
Qinghai Province is located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the
world's highest, where sparse oxygen and strong ultraviolet
radiation contribute to a high rate of cataracts.
(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2003)