The government has started a three-year charity program to treat for free about 120,000 senior citizens suffering from cataracts in the nation's western regions, the Ministry of Health reported.
An estimated 400,000 new cataract patients appear every year on China's mainland, 60 percent of them seniors, the ministry said. Most of the cataract patients can regain normal eyesight after an operation.
(eastday.com October 30, 2002)
