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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Irbil, Iraq
30 April 2007
American inspectors2 who review reconstruction3 projects in Iraq say some rebuilt facilities are falling into disrepair because they are not being properly maintained. A report by the Special Inspector1 General for Iraq Reconstruction, says of eight projects initially4 declared successes, seven are in jeopardy5 of falling short of their goals. VOA's Barry Newhouse visited a hospital in Irbil that is one of the projects inspectors said is at risk.
A hospital worker with a child in the neonatal unit |
The U.S. government paid a contractor7 $6 million 800,000 in 2005 and 2006 to modernize8 the facility. Contractors9 installed new floors and plumbing10, set-up new boilers12 and air conditioning units, and added some modern hospital equipment like an incinerator and an oxygen delivery system.
Stuart W. Bowen, Jr. is the special inspector general for Iraq Reconstruction.
"We visited the Irbil maternity hospital up in Kurdistan this quarter," he said. "It was something we reported on previously13 as a project that was well constructed. This was a sustainment review to see if the Iraqis are using the facility properly. The answer is, no."
One year after the contractors left and the hospital staff took over, inspectors say some of the expensive improvements are failing, but hospital workers insist it is not their fault.
"This is a new boiler11," he said. "It is not working. It is the thermostat14."
Hospital engineer Khaldoon Tahsin points out a broken boiler |
Hospital Director Dr. Sabriya Hamadameen says when contractors turned over the new equipment to the hospital they only told workers how to operate the equipment. She says they did not explain how to maintain it.
"We have the problem about the spare parts and the training," she said. "Our engineers they have no training about the new boiler and chiller [air conditioning] which they supplied to this hospital."
U.S. inspectors found similar maintenance problems throughout the facility in January.
Inspectors said workers did not know how to operate the incinerator and dumped medical waste into the new sewage system, causing backups.
Dr. Hamadameen says workers now properly use the incinerator. But she said they still have difficulties with some of the sophisticated new equipment, such as the oxygen system.
Huge new compressors pump oxygen throughout the hospital, but the system's automatic settings have begun to malfunction17. Unless someone regularly checks the tanks to ensure they are correctly pressurized, Dr. Hamadameen says doctors cannot be sure their patients are receiving enough oxygen.
"If there is a patient that is taking anesthesia in the operating room, maybe if they do not check every 20 minutes maybe the patient will pass [die] when the oxygen becomes low," he said.
Workers pry18 open a shed housing an unused water purification system.
NEWHOUSE: "Can you explain how this works?"
TAHSIN: "No, no I do not know how it is working. [I] Only [know how] to start it."
U.S. inspectors recommended American officials work with the Iraqi government to train hospital workers on how to properly use and maintain the new equipment.
But in response, U.S. embassy officials in Baghdad rejected such a move, saying that once the facility was turned over to the Iraqis, American contractors had no obligation to train the hospital staff.
1 inspector | |
n.检查员,监察员,视察员 | |
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2 inspectors | |
n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 );(英国公共汽车或火车上的)查票员;(警察)巡官;检阅官 | |
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3 reconstruction | |
n.重建,再现,复原 | |
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4 initially | |
adv.最初,开始 | |
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5 jeopardy | |
n.危险;危难 | |
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6 maternity | |
n.母性,母道,妇产科病房;adj.孕妇的,母性的 | |
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7 contractor | |
n.订约人,承包人,收缩肌 | |
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8 modernize | |
vt.使现代化,使适应现代的需要 | |
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9 contractors | |
n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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10 plumbing | |
n.水管装置;水暖工的工作;管道工程v.用铅锤测量(plumb的现在分词);探究 | |
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11 boiler | |
n.锅炉;煮器(壶,锅等) | |
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12 boilers | |
锅炉,烧水器,水壶( boiler的名词复数 ) | |
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13 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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14 thermostat | |
n.恒温器 | |
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15 charred | |
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦 | |
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16 soot | |
n.煤烟,烟尘;vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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17 malfunction | |
vi.发生功能故障,发生故障,显示机能失常 | |
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18 pry | |
vi.窥(刺)探,打听;vt.撬动(开,起) | |
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