Saturday 22 November 2014

Ebola outbreak: UK Government sends 30 NHS staff to help Ebola fight


The first co-ordinated group of NHS staff are due to fly from London to Sierra Leone to help in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.

Around 30 GPs, nurses, psychiatrists and emergency medicine consultants are being sent to the West African country's capital, Freetown.

There they will complete a week's training before starting work in Ebola treatment centres across the country.

The Ebola virus has killed more than 5,000 people in the current outbreak.

This is the first wave of NHS volunteers to be deployed by the UK government.

The healthcare professionals will be diagnosing and treating those who have contracted the virus.

The NHS volunteers have been preparing for deployment with intensive training at a Ministry of Defence facility in York.

More teams of volunteers are set to leave in the coming weeks after hundreds came forward to offer their services.

There are now 1,000 British military personnel, scientists, healthcare and aid workers helping to tackle the outbreak in West Africa, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said.




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