More than 30 NHS staff from across the UK departed for Sierra Leone yesterday to join Britain’s fight against Ebola – the first group of NHS volunteers to be deployed by the UK government.
The British team will now complete a week of training in Freetown before moving to British-built Ebola treatment centres across the country.
Following this training and acclimatisation, the group – which includes GPs, nurses, clinicians, psychiatrists and consultants in emergency medicine – will begin work setting up procedures, diagnosing and treating people who have contracted the deadly virus.
They will work in treatment centres built by British Army Royal Engineers and funded by the Department for International Development.
International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: “Our fight against Ebola in West Africa is one of Britain’s biggest responses to a disease outbreak. Almost a thousand military personnel, scientists, healthcare and aid workers are already on the ground in Sierra Leone working to contain, control and defeat this terrible disease.
“But to beat Ebola we desperately need the experience and dedication of skilled doctors and nurses to care for the thousands of sick and dying patients who are not receiving the treatment they need.
“Every one of these NHS heroes will play a vital role in the fight against Ebola. It is only because of their combined efforts that we stand a chance of defeating this disease.”
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