Hospital train brings hope via surgery

Doctors perform cataract operations to improve the lives of people in isolated areas. Wang Xiaoyu reports from Korla, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Nizamdin Arxidin barely speaks Mandarin, but he has traveled extensively across China because he used to make his living by selling naan bread, a staple food for people from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

However, the 68-year-old's travels were abruptly cut short about six years ago due to his fading eyesight, which had deteriorated because of cataracts.

Although an operation on his left eye was successful, the cataract in his right eye was so severe that it couldn't be treated by any of the doctors in his hometown of Korla in Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongol autonomous prefecture.

In June, though, he was told that skilled specialists would treat him for free on a hospital train.

"It was almost unbelievable that I got an operation on a train, free of charge," he said. "Now I am finally able to see things clearly through both eyes, I will definitely make naan again after I have made a full recovery."