Nepalese doctors cure 172 cataract patients in Tibet

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-20 15:39

LHASA: A team of eight Nepalese doctors has restored the eyesight of 172 cataract patients in the past five days in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The medical team concluded its mission on Saturday.

Tibet, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, has the highest cataract incidence rate in China, because of extra-strong ultraviolet rays, said Testen Dorje, head of Lhasa Institue of Eye Care.

The doctors were invited to Tibet by the Tibet Development Foundation to conduct surgeries for patients and train local doctors at the Lhasa Institue of Eye Care, a non-profit organization that has cured more than 5,000 cataract patients since 2006.

"Our work is a gift from the Nepalese to the Chinese," said Sunduk Ruit, director of the Kathmandu-based Tilganga Institue of Ophthalmology(TIO).

The institute has treated 1,075,500 catarct patients and has been a leading facility in simplifying the nececessary surgical operation, said Testen Dorje.