STORY: China's cataract eradication project brings hope to patients in Cambodia
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 28, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 30, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:54
LOCATION: Phnom Penh
CATEGORY: HEALTH

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the project
2. various of surgical operation
3. various of cataract patients
4. SOUNDBITE 1 (Khmer): DUK SARUN, Cataract patient in Cambodia
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (Khmer): SO SOPANHAVATEI, Director of Prey Veng Provincial Referral Hospital, Cambodia
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): LU HUAWEN, Leader of Chinese medical team from Wuzhou Gongren Hospital, China

STORYLINE:

A cataract eradication project, backed by China's GX Foundation, has been carried out in five countries across Asia and Africa, including Cambodia, Laos, Djibouti, Mauritania and Senegal.

Duk Sarun, a 68-year-old cataract patient in Cambodia, is the project's 10,000th patient globally and the 3,138th patient in Cambodia to benefit from free-of-charge cataract surgery performed by Chinese ophthalmologists.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Khmer): DUK SARUN, Cataract patient in Cambodia
"I had cataracts and lived in darkness (for years). Because of poverty, I had not sought any medical service until I learned that the Chinese doctors have come to provide surgical treatment, and I was very glad and had come to see them for treatment.
After the surgical treatment, my eyesight has been restored, but vision is not absolutely clear yet because it is still very new.
I am very happy that the doctors have offered free surgery.
I wish all Chinese doctors good health and longevity so that they can provide treatment to other patients."

In Cambodia, a surgery on one-eye cataract at hospitals or clinics costs 300 to 500 U.S. dollars, the amount which is hardly afforded by poor and rural dwellers.

Under the Chinese project, the GX Foundation has dispatched a team of Chinese eye doctors, together with two mobile eye treatment centers and a 35-seat bus, to give free cataract surgery to patients in Cambodia.

The three-year project was launched in September 2022, aiming at regaining vision for some 10,000 cataract patients in Prey Veng province by September 2025.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Khmer): SO SOPANHAVATEI, Director of Prey Veng Provincial Referral Hospital, Cambodia
"To date, more than 3,000 patients have undergone cataract surgeries under this project at the hospital.
The GX Foundation's free cataract surgery project in Cambodia is good and crucial to help cataract sufferers regain their eyesight and prevent them from blindness."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): LU HUAWEN, Leader of Chinese medical team from Wuzhou Gongren Hospital, China
"More than 98 percent of patients' vision has improved significantly after surgery. I feel extremely proud and honored to be a part of this aid project.
Our help has an immediate and positive impact on the patients' future lives and work."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Phnom Penh.
(XHTV)