Source: Southern Metropolis Daily 2013-06-07 Page AII08
Written by: Cao Si
Translated by: Liang Wenjie
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Yesterday was the 18th National Eye Care Day. Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University and Guangzhou Charity Association launched the “Searching for 999 90-year-old Senior Citizens with Cataract” activity, planning to provide free cataract surgery for 90-year-old or above Guangzhou citizens within a year.

"We are going to open a green passage, through which physical examination can be done within 3 days after diagnosis, surgery can be done by professors and experts within a week, and the whole treatment is free of charge,” said Chen Weirong, Director of Cataract Department of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. Cataract surgery has no age limit, but senior patients tend to give up treatment due to age issue or economic issue, “999 patients is only a virtual concept; as long as the patient is eligible for the surgery, there will be no limit to the number.”

Last year, Guangzhou launched the “project of restoring sight to poor cataract patients in Guangzhou”. In a year’s time, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center has performed high quality surgeries for 1,823 poor cataract patients, and has reduced or exempted treatment fees of over 3.814 million yuan in total.