"The successful surgery validated the clinical feasibility of China's 'flying eye hospital' in a real aviation environment, marking the formal attainment of clinical service capability for the country's first fully self-developed and self-operated 'flying eye hospital', and indicating a critical breakthrough in the integration of high-end mobile medical equipment," it said.

Lin Haotian, director of the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, said the air-space-land-sea integrated eye health service system would help break down geographical barriers, enabling high-quality ophthalmic resources to expand and achieve broader coverage into remote areas, significantly enhancing the resilience and equity of the public health system.

"We hope China's own ophthalmic flying hospital will bring light to more people across mountains and seas, illuminating more places in need in the following years," he said.

Li Qiang, Party secretary of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, said the mobile eye health digital and intelligent service system, focusing on flying ophthalmic hospitals is a concrete measure taken by his center to serve the Healthy China initiative.