1. At the meeting of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) Advisory Committee held in Guadalajara, Mexico on February 3, 2016, He Wei, director of He Eye Hospital, was elected as a member of the ICO Advisory Committee as he was recognized by the Committee as having made a special contribution in the fields of anti-blindness, education, and the creation of science and technology in China. This is another internationally recognized special honor for director He Wei, following the Presidency of the Western Pacific Association of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the Secretary General of the China-Japan-Korea Federation of Ophthalmologists, and is also a sign of the globalization of Chinese ophthalmology. The ICO is the largest ophthalmology association in the world and involves more than 120 national and professional ophthalmology societies. Now that 20 years have passed since its establishment, He Eye Hospital has grown into an ophthalmology group company with 8 ophthalmology clinics, 60 optometry shops, a medical school, and a scientific research base specializing in the ophthalmology industry.

 

2. In 2015, "Four Lifeline Express Eye Train"*1 visited 9 locations nationwide to treat 12,621 poor cataract patients from the time of the train's departure on March 25 to December 29. A total of 3,445 patients were treated at the Joint Shantou International Eye Center (JSIEC) of Shantou University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 3,075 patients at the Eye Hospital of the China Academy of CMS, 2,821 patients at Peking University People's Hospital, and 3,286 patients at Peking University First Hospital. From 1997 to the present, "Lifeline Express" has stayed in 151 locations in 28 provinces and cities to treat a total of 171,086 cataract patients, giving them hope for life.

 

*1 "Lifeline Express" is derived from the fact that, after Hong Kong's return to China in 1997, Chief Executive Tung Cheehwa presented the first train to the people of mainland China as the "Lifeline Express" on behalf of the citizens of Hong Kong. It is a charitable eye clinic in the form of a train and is equipped with the world's top-tier eye care facilities. "Lifeline Express" performs cataract operations primarily for poor farmers while traveling around China.

 

3. In the February 2016 issue of Ophthalmology, Dr. Brien Holden's posthumous work "Worldwide prevalence of myopia and high myopia and the trend from 2000 to 2050" was published, with 145 research reports being mentioned. The text pointed out that the number of myopia patients worldwide was 1.406 billion in fiscal 2000 and 1.95 billion (about 28.3% of the world's population) in fiscal 2010, and that the number would increase to about 2.62 billion in 2020 and to 4.758 billion, which is about half of the global population, in 2050 (including 938 million patients with high myopia). The number of myopic patients in East Asia (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Korea) in fiscal 2015 is expected to increase from 517 million in fiscal 2000 to 941 million in fiscal 2050. The number of patients with high myopia is expected to be 305 million in 2050.

 

4. Ciming Checkup Center, a chain of health examination organizations in China, has recently issued the National Health Checkup Report 2015. According to this report, abnormality detection rate was 45.3% in ophthalmological examinations nationwide and the detection rate was the highest among the 10 major diseases. In other words, eye disease is already a "folk disease." The rate of detecting abnormality in ophthalmological examinations was 41.73% in men and 50.02% in women.

 

5. The 4th session of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference started at the Great Hall of the People on the afternoon of March 3. A total of 2,136 members of the CPPCC attended the meeting. The 4th session of the 12th National People's Congress started on the morning of March 5. The members of the CPPCC include 4 members from the ophthalmology industry (Yao Ke, He Wei, Xu Liang, and Sun Fengyuan), while the National People's Representatives include 6 members (Qu Jia, Lam Shun-Chiu, Bi Hongsheng, Li Min, Li Suyan, and Hao Ping).