VOA新闻杂志2022--外科医生在乌克兰电网遭受重创时用手电筒工作

Without Power, Surgeons Work by Flashlight in Ukraine

Russian strikes have cut off power across Ukraine, including many hospitals.

The power outages added more pressure on the country's already weakened healthcare system. Medical operations, or surgeries, are being delayed. Patient records are unavailable because of internet outages.

Dr. Oleh Duda was in the middle of a complex surgery at a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, when he heard explosions. Moments later, the lights went out.

Duda had to keep working with only a headlamp for light. The lights came back three minutes later but those "fateful minutes could have cost the patient his life," the surgeon told The Associated Press.

The operation took place on November 15. That day, the city in western Ukraine suffered outages as Russia launched missiles at Ukraine's energy supply. The attacks damaged nearly 50 percent of the country's energy facilities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that Ukraine's health system is facing "its darkest days in the war so far." The organization noted¹ the growing energy crisis, the beginning of cold winter weather and other difficulties.

Dr. Hans Kluge is the WHO's director for Europe. He said that 2 million to 3 million more people could leave their homes in search of warmth and safety. He said that could cause more health difficulties, including spreading infections like COVID-19, pneumonia² and flu.

Attacks have hit hospitals and other health centers in southeastern Ukraine, too. The WHO said in a statement that they have confirmed at least 703 attacks since the war began.

Russia claims it does not target civilian³ facilities. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that Russia is targeting only structures "directly or indirectly⁴ related to military power."

But last week, a strike on a maternity⁵ center in a hospital in eastern Ukraine killed a newborn baby and heavily wounded two doctors. And two people were killed in the northeastern Kharkiv area after the Russian forces hit a health center.

In Lviv, Duda said the explosions were so close to the hospital that "the walls were shaking." Doctors and patients had to seek shelter underground.

Across Kherson, it starts to get dark after 4 p.m. in late November. So, doctors are using headlamps, phone lights and flashlights to work. In some hospitals, important equipment no longer works.

"The breathing machines don't work, the X-ray machines don't work. ... There is only one portable ultrasound machine," said Dr. Volodymyr Malishchuk. He is head of surgery at a children's hospital in Kherson.

Health Minister Viktor Liashko said on Friday that there are no plans to shut down any of Ukraine's hospitals, no matter how bad the situation gets.

Liashko said that generators⁷ have been provided to all hospitals. There will be 1,100 more generators sent by the country's Western allies in the coming weeks. A generator⁶ is a machine that uses fuel to create electricity. And the hospitals have enough fuel to last seven days.

More generators are still badly needed, the minister added. "The generators are designed to work for a short period of time — three to four hours," but outages can last up to three days, Liashko said.

Duda, the surgeon from Lviv, said "The war has affected⁸ every doctor in Ukraine, be it in the west or in the east, and the level of pain we're facing every day is hard to measure."

Words in This Story

headlamp — n. a light worn on the forehead

fateful — adj. producing a serious and usually bad result

surgeon — n. a doctor who performs operations that involve cutting into someone's body in order to repair or remove damaged or diseased parts

maternity — n. relating to the time when a woman gives birth to a baby

flashlight — n. a small electric light that can be carried in your hand and that runs on batteries

portable — adj. easy to carry or move around

ultrasound — n. a method of producing images of the inside of the body by using a machine that produces sound waves which are too high to be heard

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 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。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

5 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

6 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

7 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》

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。