Ebola Update: Australian Aid Worker Appeals For More Field Hospitals, U.S. Steps Up Efforts To Fight Virus
An Australian aid worker has called on the Abbott government to send personnel to Sierra Leone and set up a field hospital for Ebola victims. According to an ABC report, Ali Redhead from Perth said the global response to Ebola in West Africa has been "inadequate."
Redhead has just come back from Sierra Leone where she worked with aid organisations for three years as government adviser. In August, she was recruited by the Health Minister of Sierra Leone to advise the country's response to Ebola in its capital city of Freetown.
Redhead recalled her experience of seeing medical experts dressed in white protective suits who looked liked they were from outer space. She said her first job was setting up an emergency operation centre to keep government officials informed about the Ebola outbreak.
The response of Sierra Leone's government and aid agencies were apparently not enough. Redhead said there was a lack of isolation and treatment facilities. Sierra Leone had inadequate ambulances, vehicles to transport patients. She noted that some health workers were afraid to go near infected patients for fear of contracting the disease.
The Australian government had previously contributed $1 million to aid the World Health Organisation in fighting Ebola. Redhead welcomed the effort but said more people were needed on the ground to help the patients. With this in mind, she launched a petition for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to send a military team to Sierra Leone to put up a field hospital. She added that if the government can send troops to Iraq, sending them to West Africa will show the world the military can be used for humanitarian aid too.
Meanwhile, United States President Barack Obama has announced he will intensify the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He said he will be sending troops, materials for constructing file hospitals, more healthcare workers, medical supplies and community care kits.
Reports said the virus has killed more than 2,000 people with thousands of people still infected. Mr Obama said the rest of the world is looking at the U.S. to lead international efforts to control Ebola.
