Lifeline Express, a mobile hospital set up on train, has provided free surgery for more than 100,000 poverty-stricken cataract patients since 1997, when the train started its service in the Chinese mainland, Health Minister Chen Zhu said on Monday.

Chen made the remarks at a farewell ceremony for the express, which was leaving Beijing for southwest Sichuan Province's Mianzhu city, to give free surgery to local cataract residents in the next three month.

Lifeline Express, including four four-car trains, was donated by Lifeline Express Hong Kong Foundation in 1997, aiming to help poor cataract patients living in the mainland's rural areas.

This year, the express will go to 11 areas in seven provinces and autonomous regions, and give free surgical operations to about 1,000 patients in each area, said Nellie Fong Wong Kut-Man, founding chairman of Lifeline Express Hong Kong Foundation at the ceremony.

Besides the train leaving for Sichuan, three other trains will later go to Guangdong, Jilin, Guizhou, Henan Provinces, as well as Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the chairman said.

Since it was put into service in the Chinese mainland in 1997, the express, manned with top ophthalmologists and equipped with sophisticated facilities, has traveled to 94 areas in 27 provinces and autonomous regions, bringing hope to more than 100,000 cataract patients.

Besides the free ophthalmic service, Lifeline Express has helped build 13 ophthalmic surgery training centers in local areas. It has also held training courses for local doctors.

China has approximately four million cataract sufferers.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2010)