VOA常速英语:尼泊尔急救人员短缺，斯坦福医生伸援手

In Kathmandu, Nepal, with traffic congestion almost around the clock, it takes a long time for an ambulance to get to its destination.And when it finally arrives, it may not provide much help.That’s what happened when Subhash Dhungel’s father passed out and needed to get to the hospital.“Our expectation was they would come with main personnel, someone who could perform CPR but it’s not there.So that was... eventually when we reached the hospital, it’s okay.But you know, imagine the situation if somebody really needs the CPR, you know, this kind of service, was not there.”

In the entire nation of 26 million people,only three private hospitals and one non-profit group have ambulances with emergency medical technicians on board.“We have ambulance drivers on some of the ambulances and certainly it’s helpful to have people get to the hospital quickly.But if there is no difference in the, in an ambulance and a taxi if the person is not really trained to use equipment, to save the life on the way.”

So this training program by doctors from Stanford University was set up to help.“So really what we are trying to do is just make positive changes for emergency care in Nepal, to make emergency care more accessible to everyone in Nepal.”

The training covers providing first aid, treating trauma and heart patients and even delivering babies.“While training in EMT, we are learning about life support to help in life-threatening situations before reaching the hospital like delivery care,treating trauma victims, dealing with heart attack patients.After reaching hospitals, there are all the equipment and resources,but we have to do whatever is available locally to save patients before reaching hospital.”

The goal is to have knowledgeable well-trained EMTs on ambulances not just in the capital of Kathmandu, but in the entire country.

For writer Faiza Elmasry, I’m Faith Lapidus, VOA News.