The Macao Foundation donated 24 million yuan (US$ 3.9 million) to the Chinese Foundation for Lifeline Express at a ceremony held in Beijing.
The money will be used to aid the maintenance and equipment replacement of the mobile ophthalmology clinic trains and sponsor two service stations in central China’s Hubei Province and northwest China’s Gansu Province, each of which will provide free medical surgeries to about 1,500 needy patients suffering from cataracts. The donation will also help train ophthalmologists for hospitals in Hubei and Gansu. In addition, one million yuan (US$ 163,400) will be allocated to establish cataract treatment centers in Hubei and Gansu.
President of the Macao Foundation Wu Zhiliang said that the foundation has launched more than 4,000 charity programs and will continue cooperating with the Lifeline Express program.
The Lifeline Express, launched in 1997, has provided free surgeries to more than 130,000 patients with cataracts. The Chinese Foundation for Lifeline Express was established in August 2008 to aid needy Chinese patients suffering from cataracts.
The mobile ophthalmology clinic of the Lifeline Express is the only mobile ophthalmology service providing charity medical treatment for needy patients in China.
Charitable Hong Kong people donated the first carriage of the mobile ophthalmology clinic in July 1997, to celebrate Hong Kong’s return to China. There are now four carriages of the Lifeline Express mobile ophthalmology clinic. (macaunews)
