(Xinhua) “Thanks to China, I can see now! ” exclaimed a cataract patient in Botswana, after the gauze on her eye was uncovered.
“I was half-blind, but now I can see,” said the patient, with tears of excitement. She is among those in Botswana who recently received free surgeries by Chinese doctors during the Brightness Action Campaign launched by the Chinese government.
Assistant Minister of Health, Alfred Madigele, Chinese Ambassador to Botswana, Zheng Zhuqiang, and foreign envoys on Thursday witnessed the success of the surgery in Scottish Livingston Hospital in Molepolole, Botswana’s biggest village lying in its southeastern part.
Eleven ophthalmologists from China are providing surgeries for local people in the hospital. They will carry out more than 500 surgeries to help the patients regain their sight.
The team started working one day after their arrival on June 16 and have completed more than 200 operations.
The surgeries have been successful and for most of the patients, their sight recovered the next day after the operation, Professor Hao Yansheng of the Third Hospital Affiliated to Beijing University told Xinhua, adding that some of the patients were from poor rural areas.
The doctors also make sure that the incision is small and reaction after operation reduced to a low level, added Professor Bao Yongzhen of Beijing People’s Hospital.
The team will also exchange their experience with local doctors, mostly from Scottish Livingston Hospital, and provide training in operations for them.
Madigele described the campaign as “a noble and humanitarian action of restoring sight to the multitudes of people.”
Statistics show the rate of blindness among people aged 50 and above in Botswana has increased to 5.4 percent in 2014 from 3.7 percent in 2007.
“This campaign comes at a time when we are experiencing a high cataract backlog in our country, and this will in no doubt take us closer to the reduction of preventable blindness,” he said.
As part of the campaign, the Chinese government also donated medical equipment, drugs and other aid worth more than 1 million U. S. dollars in total to Botswana.
“The Chinese government expects to bring brightness back to more Botswana cataracts patients, to push forward the development of public health in Botswana, and to demonstrate the goodwill and love of Chinese people for Botswana people,” said Ambassador Zheng.
In 2011, the first Brightness Action Campaign in Botswana offered more than 200 operations for the locals.
