国内英语新闻:1.09 mln cataracts patients cured under subsidies

BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 1 million cataracts patients in China have been cured in the past three years with the help of 872 million yuan (138 million U.S. dollars) in subsidies from the central government, according to Health Ministry figures revealed on Tuesday.

The 1.09 million patients cured outnumbered the target of 1 million set in 2009, when the Health Ministry, Finance Ministry and China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) jointly initiated a welfare project for cataracts sufferers.

Under the project, each patient got an 800-yuan subsidy for operation from the central government, and a sum of money, varying in different places, from local governments.

Statistics from the CDPF indicate that China has 12.63 million people with visual disabilities as of the end of 2010, with nearly 400,000 cataracts patients added annually. Cataracts remain a main disease causing blindness.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that it will strive to expand the project to cover every person with cataracts by the end of 2020.