By Jung Min-ho
The Korean government will send its first medical team, compromised of four doctors and six nurses, to Sierra Leone next month to help fight the Ebola epidemic, officials said Wednesday.
According to a joint statement by the foreign, health and defense ministries, two other teams ― each consisting of four doctors and six nurses ― will later join them at the Ebola Treatment Center, which is currently under construction in Goderich, Sierra Leone.
In addition, some foreign ministry officials will assist their activities through cooperation with Sierra Leone’s government, officials from United Kingdom and the United Nations.
Before heading to Sierra Leone, they will first receive safety training in Worcester, north of London, from Dec. 15-20. South Korea and the U.K. are set to sign a deal over the details of the medical workers’ operations.
This will be followed by one week’s training in the African country, after which the team will start carrying out medical treatments on Dec. 29.
The announcement came after Jeong Jin-kyu, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official who heads Korea’s Ebola response team, returned home Tuesday after visiting Britain and Sierra Leone to conduct a field study.
If Korean medical workers are infected with Ebola, the Korean government plans to send the patient to hospitals in Europe, which are better equipped for treating Ebola, via European Union aircraft.
After their mission in Sierra Leone, the Korean medical staff will be quarantined for 21 days ― the incubation period for the virus ― as soon as they arrive home.
Ebola has killed nearly 5,500 people in West Africa this year, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Given the urgent situation, Korean President Park Geun-hye pledged last month to send a group of doctors and nurses to the Ebola-hit region to support global efforts to contain the deadly virus.