环球英语 — 164：Health Worker Diaries: Psychiatrist
Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Joshua Leo.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
In April 2006, people around the world observed World Health Day. For this day, the World Health Organization, the WHO, also released the World Health Report for 2006. The report said that at that time, fifty-seven [57] countries experienced a severe shortage of health workers. There were not enough health workers in those countries.
Voice 2
So the WHO began a new project. They wanted to celebrate health workers. And they wanted to show people around the world what health workers can do. Their project was called “The Health Worker Diaries.” The WHO invited health workers from around the world to write to them. They wanted the health workers to write about one particular day in their job. Doctor Alain Maxime Mouanga is one health worker who answered.
Voice 1
Doctor Mouanga is a psychiatrist - a doctor for the mind. Psychiatrists help people with mental sicknesses. But they also help people to understand their own emotions.
Voice 2
Mental health is important for every person. Different experiences and events in life can negatively influence a person’s mental health. Working life, family life, and a person’s part in the community are all places people can feel pressure on their mental health. A person may feel sad, angry, or out of control. These normal influences can be even worse when they involve stress or extreme mental pressure.
Voice 1
Doctor Mouanga works in the Republic of the Congo. Over two point five million [2,500,000] people live in this country. But, the WHO says he is the only psychiatrist there based in a hospital.
Voice 2
The Republic of the Congo has experienced trouble in the past. In 1997 there was a civil war. Groups of people from the same country fought against each other. The war created ethnic and political conflict. Many people had to leave their homes. And they have not been able to return to them. All these experiences continue to influence Doctor Mouanga’s patients. So, he must think about all these events when talking to them.
Voice 1
Doctor Mouanga describes one day in his experience as a psychiatrist in the Republic of the Congo.
Voice 3
“A man came to see me. He could not sleep at night. He had disabling headaches, pains in his head. He was tired. I asked him about his past. Eight [8] years ago, during the civil war, his house was burned down, just as he was getting ready to retire. It had taken him thirty [30] years of hard work to build that house... Now he is renting a small apartment under terrible conditions.”
“I asked him if he could see any relationship with what happened in 1997 and his current problems. He made a joke of it.
“‘That happened to everyone. Why should I protest?’ he asked.
“‘Yes, that happened to many people, but what happened was terrible for you,’ I told him. Like most of the patients who seek psychiatric care in the Congo, he is suffering from depression.
“Here in the Congo, people sometimes experience the most terrible shame. But they struggle on as they live with major depression. It is amazing. They look for an answer. They go from church to church and from doctor to doctor. They want to understand why they do not feel well. Finally, if they get to me or someone like me they start to understand the link, and it helps. I wish I could help them more.”
Voice 2
The hospital where Doctor Mouanga works is in poor repair. In his writing he describes the hospital.
Voice 3
“...The building remains badly damaged from the war. Instead of its original fifty [50] beds the unit only has twenty [20], which is not enough. We still do not have a single telephone or a computer. When it rains outside, it rains in my office. We lack the resources for a full program of occupational therapy and psychotherapy - kinds of mental treatments. And the only medicines we can offer are old versions of medicine.”
Voice 1
Old versions of the medicine can help mental sickness. But they can also cause some problems in the body. And the medicines often cost a lot of money. Many people in the Congo only have enough money to buy the medicines for a short period of time. Because of this, Doctor Mouanga says, some patients with serious mental sickness stop treatment. But this can be very dangerous.
Voice 3
“At the moment we have a woman on our service in exactly that situation. She had a first incident of mental sickness. She was put on treatment. And she stopped after a while. She became sick again and began to think that her thirteen [13] year old daughter was possessed by an evil spirit. The woman killed her daughter.”
Voice 2
Doctor Mouanga sees a lot of pain in his country. But he is happy he can help.
Voice 3
“People were surprised when I entered psychiatry. I could have studied other forms of medicine and worked in a more enjoyable place and earned more money. Now I want to help other people in my country to understand that mental sickness can be treated successfully, that people can recover, find satisfying lives and be useful to society.
“And I want to encourage others to enter psychiatry. There are two [2] young doctors working for me. They say they plan to enter psychiatry. I hope they will turn out to be serious enough to go overseas for the special training; and then turn out to be crazy enough to come back here to work at this hospital. I believe they will, because I know I am not alone in my dream about the hospital. They share it.”
Voice 1
The dream Doctor Mouanga is talking about is his dream of a better future for his patients and the hospital. He knows how difficult his job can be. But he also knows that his job is important.
Voice 3
“In my dream I walk into the psychiatric unit at the University Hospital in Brazzaville, and it has changed. The paint on the walls is no longer peeling. The rooms are happy. A telephone is ringing. One group of patients is in a group treatment meeting; another group is painting pictures with an art therapist. I believe my dream can come true, when I look at the progress we have made.”
Voice 2
Much of the information for this program, including Doctor Mouanga’s story came from the WHO’s website. There, you can find more Health Worker Diaries. You can find a link to the WHO’s website on our website.
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