亚齐主要医院在海啸发生一个月以来竭力抢救生还者

Main Aceh Hospital Struggling Along One Month

After Tsunami¹

亚齐主要医院在海啸发生一个月以来竭力抢救生还者

 

It is a hot, humid morning in the emergency ward² at Zainoel Abidin Hospital, the main medical facility for Banda Aceh and the province. Dr. Rob Fuller, a volunteer dressed in green scrubs and flip-flops [plastic sandals], is desperately³ looking for a place to treat a middle-aged⁴ woman who was just brought in, unable to walk.

 

Dr. Rob Fuller: We can try moving her. Thank you very much. It's very disruptive. We're going to try moving her to another place.

 

Unfortunately, all beds are taken. The tsunami that destroyed the coast of Aceh Province also devastated⁵ the hospital, leaving the wards⁶ and operating rooms knee-deep in mud. One month since, the hospital has recovered 120 beds of its original 400, but this is not enough. Virtually every other private and public hospital along the coast is in the same condition.

 

The doctor and some nurses, all volunteers from U.S. hospitals, wheel the sedated⁷ patient into what once was the X-ray room. They pull a privacy screen across the door opening and Dr. Fuller swabs the patient's spine⁸ with gauze.

 

He says the lady has either brain tumor⁹ or a disease called pseudotumor. He needs to carry out a procedure to find out.

 

Dr. Rob Fuller: She came in confused and not able to walk. In the States either disease would require surgery.

 

Dr. Fuller says that because the hospital's operating rooms are wrecked¹⁰, if the woman needs surgery, she will be moved into the German or the Australian military field hospital, whose tents are pitched outside.

 

All across the Zainoel Abidin Hospital, a sprawling¹¹ complex the size of a city block, the story is the same. No beds are available and there is no equipment. Computers and sophisticated medical gear lie smashed and muddy, on the soggy grounds outside.

 

They're also a shortage of staff. Of the hospital's 900 employees, at least 150 were killed by the tsunami. Many others are missing.

 

Nurse Rebecca Goodman, another American volunteer, finishes examining an elderly lady with diabetes¹² who is lying on a mattress¹³ on the floor.

 

Rebecca Goodman: All right, Missy. We're all done.

 

Nurse Goodman says the shortage of staff is acute. Of the 250 nurses who worked here, only 30 have reported for duty.

 

Rebecca Goodman: We've been able to supply some nurses that can come and give them a little bit more care than they would normally get because of the shortage. Because a lot of the nurses at this hospital, unfortunately, are no longer here.

 

The large number of foreign volunteers has created another shortage: translators.

 

Ms. Goodman says more Indonesian doctors and nurses are needed. They communicate better with the patients and have a greater understanding of their cultural sensitivities.

 

Many Indonesian medical workers have responded to the call. Some of them are staffing the outpatient clinic, which has been set up on a veranda¹⁴ outside the emergency ward. They check blood pressure and vital signs, and decide whether or not a patient should be admitted to the over-crowded hospital.

 

The director of the hospital, Dr. Rusmunandar, is a pensive¹⁵ man with graying hair. He says when he saw the hospital after the tsunami, he thought it was lost forever.

 

Dr. Rusmunandar: At that time, I [can] only sit. I don't know what to do. And I think that I nearly [can't] imagine that the hospital can come back again.

 

Besides the normal patients, the hospital is still treating many victims of the tsunami.

 

One of these is Ufri, a 54-year-old metalworker who lost his entire family in the disaster. He was swept out to sea, but managed to pull himself onto a large rock, where he spent four days, surviving on rotten fruit, until he was rescued. Ufri says he lost his wife, children, his whole family. His foot is hurt and he cannot walk. He says he does not know what he will do. He has no family, no money, no job.

 

In the children's ward, babies are being treated with the help of pediatricians from Belgium. Yusnidar is a 16-year-old girl from a village on the western coast. She is hugging her brother, 11 year-old Muzakkir, who is lying on a bed, thin and quiet. When the tsunami hit their village [Lhok Geulumpang], she and two other brothers climbed onto a roof and clung on. But Muzakkir missed the roof and stayed a long time under the water.

 

Doctors say Muzakkir is suffering from pneumonia¹⁶, malnutrition¹⁷ and the effects of swallowing large quantities of dirty water.

 

Yusnidar, her face clouding over, says that both of their parents were killed in the tsunami. She is taking care of the family now.

 

Dr. Rusmunandar says his top priority is to repair the hospital so it can begin serving the patients again.

 

Dr. Rusmunandar: We need assistance for training the nurses, at least 100. So we'll need help from other countries or from another part of Indonesia.

 

He adds that millions of dollars of equipment must also be replaced. The German and Australian militaries have promised to help, as well as some non-governmental groups.

 

He says he hopes in the coming months that there will be more volunteers from Indonesia. If so, he says, maybe in a few months things will begin to return to normal. But it will be a long process, especially to replace the doctors, nurses and staff who were also victims of the disaster.

 

Scott Bobb, VOA news, Zainoel Abidin Hospital, Banda Aceh.

 

注释：

humid [5hju:mid] adj. 潮湿的

disruptive [dis5rQptiv] adj. 易破裂的，易损坏的

gauze [^C:z] n. 纱布

pseudotumor [5sju:dEu7tju:mE] n. 假肿瘤

sophisticated [sE5fistikeitid] adj. 精密的

soggy [5sC^i] adj. 浸水的

mattress [5mAtris] n. 床垫

sensitivity [5sensi5tiviti] n. 敏感

veranda [vE5rAndE] n. 阳台，走廊

cling [kliN] vi. 紧贴

pneumonia [nju5mEunjE] n. 肺炎

malnutrition [5mAlnju5triFEn] n. 营养失调，营养不良

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

3 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

4 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

5 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

6 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。

7 sedated   

v.使昏昏入睡，使镇静( sedate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's sedated,but she's probably scared out of her mind. 她很安静，但是她可能已经吓疯了。 来自电影对白
• Are you telling me the porn actually sedated you? 你是要告诉我，那毛片的确让你镇静下来吗？ 来自电影对白

8 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

9 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

10 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

11 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

12 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

13 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

14 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。

15 pensive   

a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的

参考例句：

• He looked suddenly sombre,pensive.他突然看起来很阴郁，一副忧虑的样子。
• He became so pensive that she didn't like to break into his thought.他陷入沉思之中,她不想打断他的思路。

16 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

17 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。