On August 26 a permanent medical centre for children’s eye care was launched at the People’s Hospital of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, as part of the Eye Care Action Program. The center is the result of an agreement which the Hoson Foundation and the Beijing Children’s Hospital, subordinated to the Capital Medical University, respectively signed with the People’s Hospital of Lhasa.
According to the agreement, the medical centre aims to popularise eyesight examinations for children, build a case system, spread eye care knowledge for children, assist eye care research in high altitude areas and carry out telemedicine and medical training.
The building of the permanent eye care centre is subject to China’s Tibet-assistance policy, and it reflects the implementation of this policy in areas ranging from resource communication and technical assistance to personnel training.
Yabin Yu, the president of the People’s Hospital of Lasa, remarked during the opening that “due to the high altitude in Tibet, ultraviolet radiations are quite intensive. There are many children here suffering from eye diseases because of the lack of protection and most of these diseases don’t draw much attention from the parents. The establishment of eye care centres will greatly improve the medical situation in Tibet.”
Another attendee, the vice president of the Beijing Children’s Hospital, explained that the unbalanced development between different areas of China has resulted in a deficiency in medical resources in western areas like Tibet. His hospital, therefore, sends aid groups to Tibet to promote cooperation and communication between Beijing and Tibet to build technical skills and facilities.
Eye Care Action is a charitable program jointly established by the China Youth Development Foundation, the Hoson Foundation, the Beijing Children’s Health Foundation, the Beijing Children’s Hospital Group, the ICBC Committee of the Communist Youth Group, China National Radio and Rong E Gou (an ICBC online platform). It tries to protect the eyesight of children in western China. The Industry and Commerce Bank of China (ICBC) has provided the program with great support. It was ICBC that sponsored the project’s first installation in 2015, in Lhasa and Yushu.
The China Youth Development Foundation is the sole public offering foundation for this program. In 2015, it raised almost 2.3 million yuan for eye care, donated more than 12 thousand eye care kits to children, conducted free treatment for 5,500 children and successfully operated six ophthalmic surgeries for Tibetan children who were not able to afford surgery.
On the day of the centre’s opening, the medical team went to a local temple and offered eye examinations to the monks there.
For more information about Eyes Care Action, please click on the link below:
http://eye.hoson.org/
