Mobile hospitals help patients regain vision

Lifeline Express trains provide free cataract surgeries at home and abroad

Lifeline Express, a project that converts trains into mobile hospitals for cataract operations, has provided free surgeries for 240,000 patients in 28 provincial-level regions across China, as well as more than 4,300 operations in seven neighboring countries over the past 28 years, the project operator said on Wednesday.

The project was launched in 1997 as a gift from the people of Hong Kong to commemorate the city's return to the motherland. It aims to help cataract patients living in remote and less-developed regions regain their eyesight, according to the Chinese Foundation for Lifeline Express.

The foundation said the rate of visual improvement after surgery is 99 percent, with a significantly lower incidence of severe complications compared to the average. The cost of a single-eye operation has also been maintained at around 2,500 yuan ($341).