An eyesight recovery campaign has helped about five million impoverished Chinese patients get rid of cataracts since it was launched in 1997, according to the China Council of Lions Clubs Thursday.

According to a China Newsweek report, the country saw about 500,000 new patients with cataract each year, and millions of them in the rural areas are not able to receive treatment due to poverty or lack of medical resources.

In 1997, the Chinese government, China Disabled Persons' Federation and the Lions Clubs International (LCI) jointly launched the "Sight First China Action" to help promote the awareness of eyes protection and develop the ophthalmic technology for the country's grass-root hospitals.

The LCI is one of the world's largest service club organization with 45,000 branches and 1.3 million members across the world.

The China Council of Lions Clubs under the LCI was set up in 2005. As of now, more than 3,000 members and 200 service teams have been working across the country to provide life support for the disabled, promote education for poor students and collecting fund and materials for disaster relief among others.

After the May 12 earthquake, the China Council of Lions Clubs collected more than 18 million yuan and materials worth 22 million yuan for quake relief.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)