By Wang Gil-hwan, Yonhap News Agency
Published: August 3, 2006, at 3:41 p.m.
Last updated: August 3, 2006, at 3:41 p.m.
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) — JC Bitsomang Eye Clinic in Yeouido, Seoul, led by Dr. Gyung Bai Choi, has provided free sight-restoring cataract surgery to patients in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province, China, since 2001.
To date, the clinic has helped restore sight to 425 people, including ethnic Koreans and Han Chinese. Two additional medical missions are scheduled for September 20 and the end of the year.
The free surgeries are performed at Yanbian University Welfare Hospital, which established a sister-hospital partnership with JC Bitsomang Eye Clinic in 2004.
JC Bitsomang Eye Clinic provides medical equipment to the hospital and dispatches teams of three to four medical professionals for three- to five-day surgical missions.
Dr. Choi said, “Considering that more than half of older adults aged 65 and above in Korea suffer from cataracts, it appears that many more patients in the autonomous prefecture will continue to need care.”
He added, “Cataract surgery has a profound value that cannot be measured in monetary terms.”
“Blindness means being cut off from the world, while the restoration of sight is an invitation into a new world,” Dr. Choi said.
He added that the clinic planned to expand its free surgical program to cataract patients in Mongolia, Tibet and other medically underserved regions.
Dr. Choi also leads Good People’s World Blindness Prevention Volunteer Team, which provides free surgery to patients in developing countries who are unable to receive treatment after losing their sight because of financial hardship.
An official at Yanbian University Welfare Hospital said, “We have received numerous letters of appreciation from patients who underwent the free surgery, telling us that their lives have begun to change and become filled with hope.”
Yanbian University Welfare Hospital is currently accepting patient applications for the free surgery programs scheduled for September and December.
Meanwhile, JC Bitsomang Eye Clinic has also provided free sight-restoring surgery to migrant workers in Korea since May of the previous year, benefiting approximately 50 patients.
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