A total of 172 cataract patients in Cambodia regained their sight last week thanks to the Hainan Cambodia Brightness Action, bringing the number of impoverished cataract patients who have regained sight to 543 since the organization launched in September 2016, according to the Hainan provincial government.

A group of doctors and medical volunteers from China and Cambodia offered free medical consultations to 725 cataract patients in Siem Reap from last Tuesday to Friday.

The program, initiated by the Hainan provincial government and approved by the Cambodian government, was designed to give free operations for impoverished cataract suffers in Cambodia.

This was the fourth time Chinese medical teams went to Cambodia. Under the program, Hainan plans to send five medical teams to help 1,000 Cambodian patients recover their sight from September 2016 to December 2018.

"We make good use of every second and every minute to give surgeries to as many cataract sufferers as possible, to help them regain sight and get rid of poverty," said Hao Yansheng, a renowned ophthalmologist invited to operate in Cambodia three times. He worked 10 hours a day in order to treat more patients, People's Daily reported on Sunday.

"I was happy to see the sewing needle again. Chinese doctors are great, they have high medical skills," the paper quoted an unnamed 70-year-old tailor, one of the hundreds of people who have been saved from poor vision in Siem Reap.

Song Riha, deputy governor of Siem Reap, said: "China and Cambodia are reliable friends, and the brotherhood friendship has brought us unexpected help."

Kong Sonly, director of Siem Reap hospital, has learned advanced medical skills for eye surgery from the Chinese doctors. "Our cataract surgery patients usually take six weeks to recover but patients treated by Chinese doctors only need four weeks," he said.

In addition to free eye surgeries, the Hainan medical team also brought advanced medical technologies and equipment to Cambodia.