VOA健康报道2024--WHO: Gaza’s Health Care System Collapsing

 

WHO: Gaza’s Health Care System Collapsing¹

A World Health Organization (WHO) official who recently returned from the Gaza Strip² said recently that the health care system is collapsing. He said more workers and supplies are needed.

WHO Health Emergency Officer Sean Casey told reporters at the United Nations: "I've seen the health care system collapsing before my eyes."

Casey spent five weeks in Gaza, starting in early December. While there, he met with medical professionals and patients across the territory.

"I saw patients in hospitals every day with severe burns, with open fractures⁴, waiting hours or days for care, and they would often ask me for food and water," he said.

Casey said a cease-fire is needed. But he also said the ability to move people and aid supplies safely and quickly within Gaza would help ease⁵ suffering.

Reports say Gaza had a strong health care system with 36 hospitals and 25,000 doctors, nurses and specialists before Hamas militants⁶ attacked Israel on October 7. Now, the WHO says, about 15 hospitals are partially⁷ operating. That makes getting care difficult for the more than 50,000 injured people.

Casey said there is a shortage⁸ of supplies but also of workers. Many of them are displaced⁹ and struggling to survive and care for their own families.

"There are unbelievably brave health workers across Gaza who are staying and taking care of people because there is no one else to do it," he said.

Casey was in Gaza to see how to bring in more international medical teams.

He said getting supplies to northern Gaza is especially difficult. During the five weeks that he was there, his team was unable to provide supplies to the largest hospital in the north, al-Shifa, for 12 straight days.

At Al-Ahli hospital, also in the north, Casey said the situation was very bad.

"I saw patients who were lying on church pews, basically¹⁰ waiting to die in a hospital that had no fuel, no power, no water, very little in the way of medical supplies," he said.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid supplies. Casey said he had not seen evidence of that during his hospital visits.

"I have no evidence of supplies that have been delivered to hospitals going anywhere except to those hospitals," he said.

Dr. Seema Jilani is an emergency health expert with the International Rescue Committee. She returned recently from a two-week visit to Gaza with five British doctors.

Jilani is a children's doctor who has worked in conflict areas including Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. She said, "In my experience of working in conflict zones around the world, this is the most extreme situation I have seen in terms of scale, severity of injuries, number of children that have suffered that have nothing to do with any of this."

Jilani worked in the emergency room at Al-Aksa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the only hospital in the middle area of Gaza. Jilani said she treated children who had lost arms and legs and who had extreme burns.

After she left, Jilani said, the hospital ran out of fuel and the lights went out. She does not know what has happened to the babies she treated or whether they have been moved to a safer place.

Words in This Story

fracture³ — n. a broken bone

pew — n. a long bench used for sitting in a church

zone –n. an area that is different from other usually because something is happening there, or it is being used for a certain purpose

scale — n. the level to which something is large or small

1 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

2 strip   

n.长条，条状；连环漫画；n.脱衣舞；vt.脱衣，剥夺；挤干(牛奶)；vt.拆卸；去除(烟叶的茎)；vi.脱衣，表演脱衣舞；剥落

参考例句：

• I need one more strip of cloth to finish this decoration.我还要一根布条来完成这个装饰品。
• We had to strip the old paint from the doors.我们只好把门上的旧漆刮掉。

3 fracture   

v.（使）断裂，（使）折断；n.裂缝，裂痕，折断

参考例句：

• Perhaps there is a fracture in the water pipe.也许水管有裂缝了。
• A doctor can reduce a fracture or dislocation.医生能使骨折或脱臼复位。

4 fractures   

（指状态）骨折( fracture的名词复数 )； 断裂； （指事实）骨折

参考例句：

• Essentially fractures can cut most types of carbonate fabric. 实质上裂缝可割切大多数类型的碳酸盐组织。
• Fractures of the nose may be associated with septal tractures and hematomas. 鼻骨骨折可伴有中隔骨折和血肿。

5 ease   

n. 安乐,安逸,悠闲; v. 使...安乐,使...安心,减轻,放松

参考例句：

• His mind was at ease and he felt confident in the future. 他心情舒畅,对前途很有信心。
• You should ease up on the child and stop scolding her. 你应该对那个孩子宽松些,不要再骂她了。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 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。

8 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

9 displaced   

移动( displace的过去式和过去分词 )； 替换； 移走； 撤职

参考例句：

• Gradually factory workers have been displaced by machines. 工厂的工人已逐渐被机器取代。
• He was displaced by another young man. 他已被另一个年轻人顶替。

10 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。