OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2012. Lifeline Express held a gala evening in celebration of its 15th Anniversary on November 6, 2012 in Beijing. On the occasion, Mr. Tung Cheehwa, the Chairman of Chinese Lifeline Express Foundation and former Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Special Administration Region presented the "Lifeline Express 15th Anniversary Special Award" to ICBC in recognition of the Bank's unswerving efforts and sincere contributions over the years in poverty alleviation and care for the blind. ICBC also took home the "Brightness Contribution Prize" for the fourth time. ICBC customers who volunteered to join the initiative also received recognition.

Founded in 1997, "Lifeline Express" is the first mobile eye-train hospital in China dedicated to giving free treatment to eye patients. As of today, there are 4 eye-train hospitals, 15 "Microsurgical Eye Training Center", 17 "Chinese Lifeline Express Cataract Treatment Center", helping 130,000+ impoverished cataract patients have their second sight after surgery free of charge. Since 2008, ICBC has donated a total of RMB 12.10 million to cataract treatment programs organized by Lifeline Express. Two microsurgical eye training centers (one in Inner Mongolia's Hohhot and the other in Yunnan's Chuxiong) and one cataract treatment center have been set up under the sponsorship of ICBC. In Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan, 3,276 poor cataract patients regained their sight with the donation from ICBC. This year, ICBC donated RMB 3 million for Lifeline Express eye-train hospital to perform cataract surgery for at least 1,500 patients in Henan's Sanmenxia, with 1,228 surgeries completed as of November 6, 2012.