A grand ceremony was held Saturday to launch a joint campaign to make the Tibet Autonomous Region a "Cataract Control Zone".

As part of the "SightFirst China Action" Phase II jointly launched by the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the Ministry of Health, and the Lions' Club International, Tibet is expected to become a "Cataract Control Zone" by 2007.

The first phase of the "SightFirst China Action" was launched in China in 1997. Up to 2002, 2.1 million operations on cataract patients were conducted, far exceeding the targeted 1.7 million.

The second phase of the program aims to conduct 2.5 million cataract operations throughout the country. In Tibet, 12,500 cataract operations are expected to be done.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2004)