VOA慢速英语2012 Health Report - In Rural India, Medical Myths Spread

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。

Rural areas of India may have few doctors or other health resources. Instead, many people use traditional healers. These faith-based healers, or witch doctors, sometimes have strange theories about how the body works.

印度农村地区的医生和其它医疗资源可能非常有限，故许多人采用传统疗法。这些基于信念的治疗师，或巫医，有时候对身体如何工作有一些奇怪的理论。

In West Bengal, for example, some people have long believed that getting bitten by a dog leads to the birth of puppies. Dr. Kumar Kanti Ghosh is a psychiatrist¹. He helped document this belief in so-called puppy pregnancy² syndrome³ for an article. It appeared in the Lancet medical journal in two thousand three.

例如在西孟加拉邦，一些人长期以来一直认为被狗咬伤会生出幼犬。库马尔·坎蒂·戈什（Kumar Kanti Ghosh）博士是一名心理医生。他帮助把这个被称为小狗妊娠综合症的信念记录到一篇文章中。该文章2003年发表在《柳叶刀》医学杂志上。

His interest started when a nine-year-old boy came to his health clinic about ten days after being bitten by a dog.

他的兴趣始于一位九岁男童在被狗咬伤十天后来到他的诊所。

KUMAR KANTI GHOSH: "He believes that he had developed a pregnancy with a puppy inside his abdomen⁴. And sometimes also his parents have said that sometimes the boy is barking like a dog."

戈什：“他认为自己腹内怀有一只幼犬。有时他的父母也说，这名男童有时像狗一样叫唤。”

A healer named Budheswar Singh says his mixture of yogurt and herbs has cured many people. "If the man is brought to me on time, I can give him my medicine and he will be all right."

一个名为辛格（Budheswar Singh）的巫医称，他的酸奶草药混合物已经治愈了很多人。“如果他被及时带来找我，我可以给他药，他就会完全康复。”

Sanjay Samui is a medical doctor who wishes people would stop believing ideas like this. "They are uneducated village people -- they still hold on to such superstitions," he says. He tells everyone that in no situation can a puppy be born inside a human body.

桑杰·苏梅是一名医生，他希望人们能够停止相信这类观点。“他们是没有受过教育的农村人，他们仍然坚持这种没有理据的说法。”他告诉大家，在任何情况下，人体都不会诞生小狗。

The national government spends about one and a half percent of India's gross domestic product on health care. This is among the lowest rates in the world. It means faith healers are the only choice in some places. The healers spread medical myths and even build distrust against doctors.

印度政府在医疗上的开支大约只占到国内生产总值的1.5%，该比例位居全球最低行列。这意味着在一些地区，巫医是唯一的选择。这些巫医传播医疗神话，甚至建立人们对医生的不信任。

But in some countries, doctors may seek help from traditional healers.

但在一些国家，医生可能会向传统治疗师寻求帮助。

Officials in Russia have counted at least eight hundred thousand alternative healers -- more than the number of medical doctors. Daria Minerova, a healer in Moscow, told a reporter last year that doctors often called on her to either cast spells or clear spells for patients. She said they ask her for help when they have a difficult case in trying to cure a patient.

俄罗斯有关官员已经统计到至少80万替代治疗师，其数量超过医生。去年，莫斯科一名治疗师达里亚·密涅瓦（Daria Minerova）告诉记者，医生经常找她为病人施法或解除法术。她表示，他们在治疗中遇到困难时就会寻求她的帮助。

注：替代医学（alternative medicine），也叫替代疗法，是由西方国家划定的常规西医治疗以外的补充疗法。包括草药、针灸疗法、按摩疗法、冥想疗法等等。替代治疗师就是指替代医学从业者，例如中医。

Health care in Russia is basically free. So cost does not explain why people seek alternative healers. Marina Belorysova, a college-educated English teacher in Moscow, told a reporter last year that people avoid western medical care in Russia for a different reason.

俄罗斯医疗基本上免费的。因此医疗费用无法解释人们为什么选择替代治疗师。去年，莫斯科一名受过大学教育的英语教师玛丽娜（Marina Belorysova）告诉记者，人们出于不同原因避免接受俄罗斯西医治疗。

MARINA BELORYSOVA: "Medicine is very poor in Russia. It is very bad. At least they know when they use alternative medicine, nothing really bad will happen, right?"

玛丽娜：“俄罗斯医学非常差，这一点很糟糕。至少他们选择替代治疗师，不会发生什么不好的事，对不对？”

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. You can find a video about medical myths in rural India at voanews.cn. I'm Steve Ember.

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Contributing: Kurt Achin and Jessica Golloher

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