File photo shows a Chinese doctor conducts cataracts surgeries at Windhoek Central Hospital in Windhoek, Namibia on May 15, 2018. In many other developing countries, cataracts are the main cause of blindness. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

ANTANANARIVO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese brightness action campaign was launched in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo on Thursday to provide free treatment to more than 200 Malagasy patients who are suffering from cataract.

To bring the brightness back to those patients, a group of eleven Chinese ophthalmologists will work with their Malagasy companions for more than two weeks.

"As minister of health and as a surgeon, it's really extraordinary, because you bring the light and you also transfer the light to the Malagasy team," Madagascar's health minister Lalatiana Andriamanarivo said during the inauguration ceremony.

For her part, the Chinese Ambassador to Madagascar Yang Xiaorong said that health is paramount for the well-being of the population and the social progress of the country.

"Since the establishment of Sino-Malagasy diplomatic relations, stable and lasting cooperation between our two countries is constantly making new progress. We have always remained faithful to the just principles of sincere friendship, peer-to-peer treatment, mutual support and win-win cooperation. Health collaboration has achieved important results," Yang said.

"We wish to take this opportunity of the brightness action campaign to work with the Malagasy side, to further develop cooperation and broaden the areas of consensus in the field of health," she added.

The Chinese brightness action in Madagascar is a part of the Chinese brightness action in Africa. This mission is organized and implemented by the National Health Commission of China.

Cooperation between China and Madagascar in the health sector has already lasted 43 years, with China having sent 21 Chinese medical teams and 608 Chinese doctors to Madagascar.