Sight First China Action will work with a Shanghai hospital to perform free cataract surgery on 447 elderly people from Shanghai and Tongzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Sight First China Action is a charity program that was set up by the Chinese government and the Lion's Club International, one of the world's largest charity organizations.

Between 1997 and 2001, the program treated 2.1 million cataract patients in China, as well as offering optometrist training and education programs about how to prevent sight loss.

The program is expected to help another 2.5 million people with cataract problems to regain their sight by 2006.

About 9 million people in China suffer from eye disorders, according to medical experts. More than 4 million Chinese people have been blinded by cataracts, and that number grows 400,000 annually.

Many people don't get treatment in time because they don't know enough about eye disease, or they can't afford the 6,000 yuan (US$723) cataract surgery usually costs.

"Only 200,000 people receive cataract surgery every year in China," said Liu Anhua, president of Shanghai Huadu Hospital, where the charity group has conducted more than 400 surgeries.

"Many patients have to experience the deterioration of their eye sight and deal with a lower quality of life."

Cataracts are common in people over the age of 50 and affect almost all people over the age of 80. About 30,000 people are diagnosed with cataracts each year in the city.

(Shanghai Daily April 27, 2005)