Chinese doctors to help Pakistanis see

Doctors from Peking Union Medical College Hospital perform cataract surgery last year in Sri Lanka during a medical aid trip organized by the Chinese Foundation for Lifeline Express.[Photo/Xinhua]

Free eye surgeries done by Chinese medical teams will help 500 cataract patients in Pakistan see better this year, under a plan released on Thursday by the Chinese Foundation for Lifeline Express.

The medical aid - the fund's second such trip outside China - is expected to bring a higher quality of life to more people in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Nellie Fong, who started the foundation.

Last year, the foundation sent nine physicians from Peking Union Medical College Hospital to Sri Lanka in November to perform more than 500 free surgeries for impoverished patients.

"The patients were from the poorest place in Kalutara district in western Sri Lanka. Power supplies were unstable, and once we completed a surgical procedure despite losing electricity eight times," according to one of the doctors, Zhao Chan.

More than 800 patients registered to be considered for surgery in the month after the medical team arrived in Sri Lanka, said Yin Dakui, a member of the foundation's board and a former vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. They were able to help 506 of them.

"The number of surgeries we can perform a year is limited, but we aim to train local doctors during our annual visits, which will benefit more patients in the future," Yin said.