LESSON 6

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF THE SHIP

WORDS

arrival – sosire
foreign – strain, din alta tara
medical officer – inspector sanitar, doctor
duty – datorie, indatorire
to examine – a examina, a verifica
crew – echipaj
infectious disease – boala infectioasa
bill of health – patenta de sanatate
to issue – a emite, a elibera
certificate – certificat
pratique – (libera) practica, permisiunea de a opera
port of call – port de escala
to land – a acosta
voyage – voiaj, mars
quarantine – carantina
casualty – eveniment nefericit, accident
sick – bolnav
to injure – a deteriora, a avaria, a rani
to authorise – a autoriza
provided – cu conditia ca/sa
to fumigate – a dezinfecta, a deratiza
to carry out – a executa
to hand over – a preda, a inmana
to suffer – a suferi

EXPRESSIONS

to be under duty – a avea indatorirea/datoria

to render assistance
to get medical treatment
bad luck
to be X-rayed
to muster and line up
to keep the ship in quarantine
What’s the reason for...?
It will not (won’t) take much time
It is just the same
– a acorda asistenta
– a primi tratament medical
– ghinion
– a face radiografie
– a se aduna in formatie
– a tine nava in carantina
– Care-i motivul pentru...?
– Nu va dura mult
– Este acelasi lucru (Ramane valabil ce-am spus)
 TEXT

On the arrival of a ship in a foreign port, the first person who comes aboard is the
medical officer of the port. His duty is to examine the members of crew for infectious
diseases. He also examines the bill of health which the ship got in her last port of call.
If the bill of health is “clean” and there are no infectious diseases on board, the
medical officer issues the Certificate of Pratique. This Certificate allows the vessel to enter the
port and to discharge her cargo. It also allows the ship’s crew and passengers to land.
If the ship has arrived from a port suffering from infectious diseases or if there have
been some cases of infectious aboard the ship during her voyage, the ship is put in quarantine.
The medical officer is also under duty to examine whether the ship has proper
Certificate of Deratization and disinfection.
In case of some casualty or if there are some sick people on board, the medical officer
renders assistance in placing the injured or sick persons for hospital treatment.
Sometimes Custom officers and Pilots are authorised to give ships free pratique,
provided the ships have “clean” Bills of Health.

DIALOGUES

1.

Medical Officer: Good afternoon! I’ve come to examine your ship. I am the medical officer.
Have you any sick people on board?
Chief Mate: Yes, two men are badly injured during the storm.
Medical Officer: What injuries did they get?
Chief Mate: One of theme has broken his leg, the other one has sprained his arm.
Medical Officer: Bad luck! Do they get medical treatment?
Chief Mate: Yes, certainly they do, but still they need hospital treatment. They both must be
X-rayed, you know.
Medical Officer: I’ll see to that later on, when we have finished with the examination.
Chief Mate: Shall I have all hands mustered and lined up for doctor’s inspection?
Medical Officer: No, that’s not necessary. Have you anybody ill with infectious diseases?
No cases of diarrhoea?
Chief Mate: No, everybody is in good health.
Medical Officer: Have you had unusual mortality among threats on board your ship?
Chief Mate: No, we haven’t. We maintain the ship practically rat free , as we often do
fumigation.
Medical Officer: What was your last port of call?
Chief Mate: Our last port of call was Naples, Italy.
Medical Officer: Show me the latest copy of your declaration, please.
Chief Mate: Here it is. It was issued at Naples.
Medical Officer: Thank you. It’s OK. Will you kindly present your Deratization and
disinfection Certificates?
Chief Mate: Here they are. The vessel was fumigated a month ago.
Medical Officer: So, everything is OK. and I’ll give you free pratique.

2.
Medical Officer: I am sorry, but we have to keep your ship in quarantine.
Captain: What’s the reason for that?
Medical Officer: We are informed about an epidemic of cholera in Hong Kong, where you
were five days ago.
Captain: How long shall we be kept in quarantine?
Medical Officer: According to regulations you’ll be kept in quarantine for a week. We’ll
have to carry out disinfection.
Captain: How long will it take to carry out the disinfection?
Medical Officer: It won’t take much time, a couple of hours, perhaps.
Captain: All right, you may start then. What other regulations should we carry out?
Medical Officer: All the requirements are stated in this declaration which you must sign and
hand over to me. You may retain a copy of this declaration.
Captain: That’s clear. Anything else?
Medical Officer: Fruits, vegetables, flowers are not allowed to be landed. Besides you must
sign a declaration that you won’t land any animals ashore.
Captain: We have no animals, except a dog.
Medical Officer: It is just the same. You must confine your dog and not let it out on deck.

Exercises

I. Read the text again and answer the following questions:

1. Who is the first person who come aboard on the ship’s arrival?
2. What is the duty of the medical officer of the port?
3. What documents is he to examine?
4. Who issues the Bill of Health?
5. In what case is the Certificate of Pratique given to the ship?
6. Who issues the Certificate of Pratique?
7. What does this document allow the ship to do?
8. What does this document allow the crew and passengers to do?
9. In what case is the ship put in quarantine?
10.What assistance does the medical officer render when there are sick or injured persons
aboard?

II. Read the dialogues again and answer the following questions:

Dialogue 1
1. How many injured persons were there aboard?
2. What injuries did they have?
3. What treatment did they need?
4. Could they be X-rayed aboard the ship?
5. Was there anybody ill with infectious diseases?
6. What did the Chief Mate say about the rat mortality aboard the ship?
7. Did the medical officer give free pratique to the ship?

Dialogue 2
1. Why was the vessel put in quarantine?
2. How long was she to be kept in quarantine?
3. How long was the disinfection to take?
4. What did the medical officer say about fruits, vegetables and flowers?
5. Could animals be landed ashore in that port?

III. Ask questions using the model:

Model: You must have all deck-hands lined up.
Shall we have them lined up at once?

1. You must have these sailors examined by a doctor.

2. He must have them taken to hospital.
3. You must have the ship disinfected.
4. They must have these people X-rayed.
5. You must have these holds fumigated.

IV. Listen to the short dialogues, repeat each sentence during the pauses and learn the
dialogues by heart:

“Will you show me your latest Bill of Health, please?”

“Yes, certainly. Here it is”.
Thank you. It’s all right. Please take it back.

xxx

“Any sick persons on board?”

“No, none. Everybody is all right”.

xxx

“We have some injured people aboard. We must have them for hospital treatment
immediately”.
“All right. We’ll see to that at once”.

V. Read and translate into Romanian:

As soon as we arrived at the port, the medical officer came aboard.

He examined our declaration of health and asked if we had any sick persons on board.
We had two sailors badly injured during a storm and he helped us to place them to hospital for
medical treatment. as we had no infectious diseases on board and everybody was practically
quite healthy, he issued the Certificate of Pratique at once. Then he asked if we had and
unusual rat mortality. But we showed him our Certificate of Deratization, where it was stated
that the ship had been recently fumigated and disinfected. The medical officer was quite
satisfied. He handed over a declaration which the Captain was to sign. Soon. we began
making fast to the pier.