Badly damaged Ukrainian hospital struggles to provide emergency services

Badly damaged Ukrainian hospital struggles to provide emergency services

Transcript¹

In the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv at least half a dozen hospitals have been damaged by Russian attacks. One had to close most of its departments and reduce operations to emergency cases.

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The World Health Organization says medical facilities in Ukraine have endured more than 90 separate attacks since the Russian assault began. One hospital in Chernihiv is working to stay open. NPR's Ari Daniel reports.

ARI DANIEL, BYLINE²: On March 16, multiple shells exploded near City Hospital No. 2. One detonated inside. Vladislav Khuhar (ph) was there. He's the hospital director and a surgeon.

VLADISLAV KHUHAR: (Through interpreter) That was one of the first spring days. The sky was cloudless. It was cold, yes, but the sky was so blue. These explosions, it all seemed so unreal. We realized that we were the target.

DANIEL: The emergency department was instantly destroyed. The shockwaves shattered windows across all nine floors, showering everything with broken glass. Beds spun³. Doors sailed down hallways.

KHUHAR: (Through interpreter) It was like an apocalypse. There was white fog of cement and dust in the building, in the hallways and rooms. There was an alarm sounding, the screams of patients and the medical personnel.

DANIEL: Like a photograph seared into his memory, Khuhar remembers a girl crying in the hallway. He raced to the operating rooms. His colleagues were still alive. Next, he ran to what little remained of the emergency department.

KHUHAR: (Through interpreter) We were trying to find all the wounded to prioritize them, to render them necessary aid, such as sedatives⁴.

DANIEL: Within an hour of the attack, Tatiana Lebedieva (ph) stepped into the shell that was City Hospital No. 2.

TATIANA LEBEDIEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Interpreting) It was very, very difficult, emotional moment.

DANIEL: Lebedieva is deputy director of the Chernihiv Health Department, and it's become her job to document the assaults on health facilities. Her daughter, based outside of Ukraine, is interpreting for her and gets upset when she hears her mother describe what happened that day.

LEBEDIEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Interpreting) Because we - in our city...

I'm sorry.

(Interpreting) My job required me to drive around the city and check every hospital. And I was there after that happened.

DANIEL: The scene was overwhelming. This place of healing, she says, had been so beautiful.

LEBEDIEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Interpreting) In this hospital, we have more than 300 doctors of more than 30 specializations.

DANIEL: In seconds, all that was gone, and they feared a further attack.

LEBEDIEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Interpreting) The decision was taken very quickly to move all the patients who were able to walk, to move them to the - on the ground floors.

DANIEL: Those who had been recovering post-op were brought into the hallways, where it was safer.

LEBEDIEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Interpreting) Everyone was very scared. The patients, everything that has been done to help them to live their life longer is being destroyed in seconds or minutes. And it's such a pain in your heart and hopelessness in your soul.

DANIEL: This is what Tatiana Lebedieva had come to document - the latest in a string of attacks on health infrastructure⁵, verification of possible war crimes. This was the city's sixth hospital damage report.

LEBEDIEVA: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Interpreting) We need to have the evidence that this happened. This is a breach⁶ of all military conventions.

DANIEL: The hospital staff repaired the buildings the best they could. It took four days to cover the windows with plywood and tarps. The hospital contracted to the ground floor, transforming into an emergency triage center.

Director Vladislav Khuhar.

KHUHAR: (Through interpreter) There was no alternative. We were there to help under any circumstances. That's what we did. That's what we had to do. Fate has made this choice for us.

DANIEL: More than half of Chernihiv's population has fled, but numerous medical personnel have stayed behind to help at City Hospital No. 2, like Alexander Rashenko (ph). In the before times, he was a pediatric surgeon elsewhere in Chernihiv. One person told me he has hands that are capable of big miracles. But once the war broke out, Rashenko became a full-time⁷ volunteer trauma⁸ surgeon. As we're speaking, explosions start going off in the background.

ALEXANDER RASHENKO: (Through interpreter) Right now, above my head, is some artillery⁹ bombing - the sound, you could hear.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUFFLED¹⁰ EXPLOSIONS)

DANIEL: Rashenko tends the wounds caused by explosions like these. Often, he's extracting shrapnel and bullets from the bodies of his patients. His days have followed a cycle, pinned to the sounds of fresh bombs. He says when the explosions pause, staff holed up in the basement stream out of the hospital with gurneys and tourniquets¹¹, ferrying new patients back inside, where the triage begins anew.

RASHENKO: (Through interpreter) You need to understand whom you should help first, whom you should help second turn and whom there is no sense to help anymore. And that's part of this new reality.

DANIEL: Rashenko and the other surgeons do the best they can, running their operating equipment on generators¹². But fuel is scarce.

RASHENKO: (Through interpreter) In the night, the temperature was minus, so you could imagine what are the conditions in the hospital without windows.

DANIEL: Within Chernihiv's city limits, all seven municipal hospitals are damaged, and only three remain partially¹³ open. And while other parts of Ukraine have been spared, Chernihiv isn't alone. Health infrastructure in the regions of Kyiv, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Mariupol and elsewhere have all been hit hard. As for Vladislav Khuhar, the director of City Hospital No. 2, he actually says he's filled with gratitude¹⁴ for those who helped repair the hospital and for his colleagues who've stayed to help others heal.

KHUHAR: (Through interpreter) It demands more effort these days. But the patients get better. They leave the hospital, and they get their health back. And it brings us joy. It brings us pride. And it's the greatest honor in this situation.

DANIEL: At this point in our interview, Khuhar politely tells me he must get going; he has patients who need him.

Ari Daniel, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

4 sedatives   

n.镇静药，镇静剂( sedative的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A wide variety of mild sedatives and tranquilizers have become available. 现在有许多种镇静剂和安定剂。 来自辞典例句
• Since July 1967 there has been a restriction on the prescribing of sedatives in Australia. 自从1967年7月起，澳大利亚的镇静药处方受到限制。 来自辞典例句

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

7 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

9 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

10 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 tourniquets   

n.止血带( tourniquet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Can tourniquets be used in patients with sickle cell disease? 止血带能否用于镰状细胞病患者？ 来自互联网
• Fig. 1-1 A, Straight (rectangular) tourniquets fit optimally on cylindrical limbs. 图1-1A直（长方形）止血带最适合用于柱状的肢体。 来自互联网

12 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

14 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。