“Seeing is Believing” is a global initiative to help tickle avoidable blindness, funded by Standard Charter Bank. West China Hospital signed the agreement of “Seeing is Believing IV” project with the ORBIS International in Nov. 2011. In a partnership with ORBIS International and West China Hospital, nine fully equipped eye-care sub-centers have been established, four specialized in cataract, four in pediatric eye diseases, and the last one in glaucoma. These centers are scattered in nine different Sichuan cities including Dazhou, Nanchong, Yilong, Dujiangyan, Leshan, Mianyang, Liangshan, Luzhou, and Bazhong, which altogether cover approximately 46.13% of the 83 million population in Sichuan.

During the past year, our medical staff at each sub-center have been working diligently and orderly, showing a gratifying momentum on the work of eye disease screening, surgical treatment, personnel training, eye health education, and etc. As of the end of December 2012, the project has provided over 25 million people the free eye disease screening, approximately 350 poor patients the affordable or even free surgeries, and approximately 20 professional eye-care health workers which include ophthalmologists, nurses, anesthesiologists and optometrists from each sub-centers the much-needed professional training.

The “Seeing is Believing IV” project has not only brought accessible, affordable and quality health care to local people suffering from eye diseases, but also been laying strong foundations of better general eye-care for the future. West China Hospital is gratified to play a critical role in this project tackling avoidable blindness and visual impairment for local folks in Sichuan Province.

（Zheng Zizi，ORBIS Office in West China Hospital）