Ordos firm helps out cataract patients in neighbor Mongolia

Inner Mongolia Yitai Group Co, an Ordos-headquartered large energy group, donated 15 million yuan ($2.13 million) to the Bright Travel Organizing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on March 10 -- for humanitarian work to be performed in the region’s neighbor, Mongolia, according to local officials.

They said the money well be used for special humanitarian aid projects like the Belt and Road, Bright Travel Mongolian Action program.

Bu Xiaolin, chairwoman of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and honorary chairman of its Red Cross Society, attended the ceremony and presented a certificate of appreciation to the company.

In May 2018, the Red Cross Society of Inner Mongolia and the Chinese Red Cross Society jointly implemented the Belt and Road, Bright Travel Mongolian Action program.

It plans to organize and oversee during a five-year period free cataract surgery that is performed on 1,000 patients from poor families in autonomous region’s neighbor, Mongolia.

To date, the program has screened 2,479 cataract patients in neighbor Mongolia and organized 310 cases of free rehabilitation surgery for poverty-stricken patients, which has been warmly welcomed and widely praised by all sectors of Mongolian society .

Local officials said that in 2020, the Red Cross Society of Inner Mongolia will further strengthen regional cooperation and exchanges in the humanitarian field, continue to organize and implement the Belt and Road, Bright Travel Mongolian Action program and plan to perform 300 to 500 cases of cataract patients in neighboring Mongolia at no charge during the year.

Officials added that foreign aid medical teams will be dispatched to Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar and its surrounding areas to complete 200 to 300 cases of surgery -- and 200 to 300 patients will be sent to China to receive treatment and surgery.