For the first time, people in China's remote Shangdu County can have their sight restored without lengthy travel, after the region acquired its first eye surgeon.

Accessible surgery is possible due to the training of a local surgeon, Dr Ming Huang, with support from The Fred Hollows Foundation and Standard Chartered Bank. Dr Huang was previously a generalist but now has the specialist skills to treat complex eye conditions.

Shangdu County is a poor, remote, rural community with a population of 340,000. There is currently a backlog of 2,000 people needing urgent cataract surgery.

Prior to Dr Huang’s training, locals had to travel to a major city up to 100km away to receive cataract surgery. Many were unable to take the days off work to travel the distance, let alone cover the cost of surgery.

Dr Huang will now work at the People’s Hospital of Shangdu County to reduce the local cataract backlog. 

The Fred Hollows Foundation will continue to support his sight-saving work by providing the intraocular lenses that are inserted into the eye once a cataract is removed. 

According to a recent Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness survey carried out by The Foundation in China, 5.4 per cent of people in Shangdu County over 50 years old are blind. In more than three quarters of cases, the condition is treatable. 

> Learn more about our China program.