Mr. Leung Chun-ying encouraged students to take up important roles in the international community
GX Foundation (GX) is pleased to announce that over 1,000 cases of cataract surgeries were completed worldwide. On 14th September 2022, GX completed its 1st cataract surgery in Vientiane, the Capital of Laos, and reached 1000 cases worldwide in Djibouti, Africa on 12th March 2023. As of 22nd March 2023, GX has completed 1386 surgeries worldwide.
As The Foundation is launching the second phase of “The Cataract Blindness Elimination Project” in Laos, Mr. Leung Chun-ying, Chairman of the GX Foundation and Vice Chairman of The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended a GX’s educational event and joined 40 secondary school students to connect with the field team in Laos virtually. Mr. Jiang Zai-dong, Chinese Ambassador to Laos, Dr. Liu Sida, Project Director of GX Program and the Guangxi Medical Team shared about their experiences working in the field in Laos. Mr. Leung and students wrote words of encouragement on a banner, which would be presented to the Guangxi Medical Team stationed in Laos.
Mr. Leung Chun-ying, Chairman of the GX Foundation and Vice Chairman of The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), shared the stories of how GX colleagues brought Chinese love to Africa and encouraged students to “go global” representing Hong Kong, China, to take up important roles in the international community. Mr. Leung said, “As China is gradually moving towards the centre of the world stage, the career planning of Hong Kong people should no longer be limited to Hong Kong, but should be extended to rest of the world and our country, China, instead. As the Foundation expands the scope of humanitarian assistance work, the future of Hong Kong students is no longer limited to being a clinical doctor in the local community.” He hoped that students could think prospectively and go beyond Hong Kong and China when they prepare their future career plans.
Mr. Jiang Zai-dong, Chinese Ambassador to Laos, stated that the work of GX Foundation brought positive impacts on deepening the relationship between the Chinese and Lao people. He was pleased that the Foundation could bring brightness to countless of Lao people and encouraged youths in Hong Kong to seize the opportunity and actively participate in work of GX.
Oliver Pang, a student from King’s College, noted that the medical team did not only treat patients but also comforted their emotions, which fully embodied the qualities of “one heart” and “sharing”. Pang mentioned he was moved and excited when the medical team shared about the moment of many cataract patients restored vision. At the same time, Pang became more determined to practice medicine in the future, knowing that practicing medicine could not only help others but also represented a form of personal growth. He hoped that one day he could have the opportunity to help people in need around the world.
Jasmine Ho, a student from St. Paul's Convent School, stated that the virtual meeting with the Guangxi Medical Team stationed in Laos was very memorable and the sharing by Mr. Leung Chun-ying, gave her great encouragement and inspirations. She added that Professor Emily Chan Ying-yang, CEO of the GX Foundation, and one of the GX’s staff in field were both her senior fellows. She was deeply influenced by them and realized that her strength was not as weak as she had imagined. She hoped to follow down the path of her senior fellows and become a doctor to help people in need from different countries in her own ways.
Kelvin Cheang, a student from Diocesan Boys' School, also had a deep impression on Mr. Leung's sharing of the short story in Djibouti, Africa. He could feel the tension and excitement when a pregnant mother was waiting for her father to complete the cataract surgery. He found the GX “Cataract Blindness Elimination Project” very meaningful as it could bring new hope to patients. He also believed that the sharing session had brought him new inspirations. He will continue to study hard in the future and try his best to help those in need around the world.
Max Ma, a student from Ying Wa College, stated that despite cataract surgery was an operation with risk, knowing that the Foundation was able to complete the operations without any complications, he believed the medical team was highly skilled and experienced. The GX programme made him feel very warm and he was determined to become a doctor in the future.
Adrian Cheng, a student from St. Paul's Co-educational College, stated the cataract surgery that lasted for 25 minutes was simple and inexpensive, yet, the African people could not receive proper treatments due to lack of resources, had conveyed a sign of unfairness. Fortunately, the China medical team had kindly extended their helping hands to the African people, enabling them to receive fair and equitable treatment, and regaining vision for self-reliance. She found the work of GX Foundation very meaningful as the GX staff and the medical team were willing to contribute to the world and overcome different challenges along the way.
Angelina Wong, a student from Diocesan Girls' School, also expressed her great appreciation to the medical team for their efforts in overcoming different obstacles to persuade local people to perform surgeries, helping them to restore vision and bringing hope to those living in developing countries.

As we entered Ramadan, GX had completed the 1st phase project in Djibouti, East Africa. The team had completed 443 free cataract surgeries within 16 working days. Meanwhile, GX team concurrently is pushing forward Senegal project lately, hoping to bring love and brightness from East Africa to West Africa without delay. Recently, Professor Emily Chan Ying-yang, CEO of the GX Foundation, led a team to Fuzhou, visited the Fujian Provincial Hospital and had a meeting with the National Health Commission of Fujian Province and local medical practitioners for project preparatory work. With over 40 years of experience in aiding Africa, Fujian Province is the pioneer in African aid work. They provided valuable input on GX project implementation during the meeting.

GX Foundation expects to launch its Senegal project by the end of year, providing free cataract surgeries in Fatick, the hometown of Macky Sall, President of Senegal. In coming 2 years, Fujian Province is expected to send medical teams from 4 hospitals to Fatick, to provide cataract surgeries free of charge for local populations to restore sight. Professor Emily Chan Ying-yang, CEO of the GX Foundation, is grateful for the support from Fujian Province and look forward to working hand-in-hand with the Fujian Provincial medical team to bring brightness to people of Senegal.

After the successful launch of the programme in Djibouti, East Africa, a team of 3 people led by Ms. Caroline Dubois, Project Director of GX Africa programmes, flew from Djibouti to Mauritania to prepare for the upcoming project.
The team visited the local Chinese embassy, and met with the officials of Ministry of Health officials as well as the local Heilongjiang medical team to discuss the details on launching the “Cataract Blindness Elimination Project”. With the dedicated efforts by the team, great progress had been made and the project is expected to be launched before Fall as scheduled.
Since Djibouti and Mauritania are situated in the east coast and west coast of Africa respectively, the team had travelled for more than 50 hours without a direct flight for the round trip because we are all hoping to help thousands of cataract patients to restore sight as soon as possible.
GX Foundation expects to launch its programmes in Mauritania and Senegal by end of this year, taking a step further for “people-to-people” connectivity between China and Africa.