WHO: Gaza’s Health Care System Collapsing

　　WHO: Gaza’s Health Care System Collapsing

　　世卫组织：加沙的医疗保健系统正在崩溃

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　　By Dan Novak

　　24 January 2024

　　A World Health Organization (WHO) official who recently returned from the Gaza Strip 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 fractures, 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 ease suffering.

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

　　Casey said there is a shortage of supplies but also of workers. Many of them are displaced 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, basically 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.

　　I'm Dan Novak.

　　Margaret Besheer wrote this story for Voice of America. Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English using additional reporting from The Associated Press.

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　　作者：Dan Novak

　　2024年1月24日

　　一位刚从加沙地带返回的世界卫生组织（WHO）官员最近表示，该地的医疗保健系统正在崩溃。他说，需要更多的工作人员和供应品。

　　世卫组织卫生紧急事务官员Sean Casey在联合国对记者说：“我亲眼看到医疗保健系统在崩溃。”

　　Casey从12月初开始在加沙待了五周。在那里，他在整个领土上与医疗专业人员和病人会面。

　　他说：“我每天在医院里看到病人，他们有严重的烧伤，有开放性骨折，等待几个小时甚至几天的护理，他们经常向我要食物和水。”

　　Casey说，需要停火。但他也说，如果能在加沙内部安全快速地转移人员和援助物资，将有助于缓解苦难。

　　报道称，哈马斯激进分子在10月7日攻击以色列之前，加沙拥有强大的医疗保健系统，有36家医院和25000名医生、护士和专家。现在，世卫组织说，大约有15家医院在部分运营。这使得超过50000名受伤的人难以得到护理。

　　Casey说，不仅物资短缺，工作人员也短缺。他们中的许多人被迫离开原来的地方，挣扎着生存，照顾自己的家人。

　　他说：“在加沙各地，有一些令人难以置信的勇敢的卫生工作者，他们留下来照顾人们，因为没有别人来做这件事。”

　　Casey去加沙是为了看看如何引入更多的国际医疗团队。

　　他说，将物资送到加沙北部尤其困难。在他在那里的五周时间里，他的团队连续12天无法向北部最大的医院——艾尔-希法医院提供物资。

　　在北部的Al-Ahli医院，Casey说情况非常糟糕。

　　他说：“我看到病人躺在教堂的长椅上，基本上在等待死亡，因为医院没有燃料，没有电力，没有水，医疗物资非常少。”

　　以色列指责哈马斯窃取援助物资。Casey说，在他的医院访问期间，他没有看到这方面的证据。

　　他说：“我没有证据表明已经送到医院的物资去了除那些医院以外的任何地方。”

　　Seema Jilani博士是国际救援委员会的紧急健康专家。她最近与五位英国医生一起从对加沙的两周访问中返回。

　　Jilani是一位儿科医生，曾在包括阿富汗、伊拉克和黎巴嫩在内的冲突地区工作。她说，“在我在世界各地的冲突地区工作的经验中，这是我见过的最极端的情况，无论是规模，伤害的严重程度，还是与此无关的受苦儿童的数量。”

　　Jilani在加沙中部地区唯一的医院——位于Deir al-Balah的Al-Aksa医院的急诊室工作。Jilani说，她治疗了失去手臂和腿，以及严重烧伤的儿童。

　　她离开后，Jilani说，医院的燃料用完了，灯也熄灭了。她不知道她治疗过的婴儿现在怎么样了，或者他们是否已经被转移到了一个更安全的地方。

　　我是Dan Novak。

　　这个故事是Margaret Besheer为美国之音写的。Dan Novak使用来自美联社的额外报道为VOA学习英语改编了这个故事。

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　　这个故事中的词汇

　　fracture — n. 骨折

　　pew — n. 教堂里的长凳

　　zone –n. 一个区域，通常因为某事正在那里发生，或者它被用于某种特定目的而与其他地方不同

　　scale — n. 某事物的大小或规模的程度