Cuba sends doctors to fight Ebola

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CUBA’S health ministry says it is sending more than 160 health workers to help stop the raging Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

IT will provide a much-needed injection of medical expertise in a country where health workers are in short supply.

World Health Organisation chief Dr Margaret Chan said on Friday the agency was extremely grateful for the help. “If we are going to go to war with Ebola, we need the resources to fight,” she said. “This will make a significant difference in Sierra Leone.” While millions of dollars have already been pledged and countries including Britain and the US have volunteered to build treatment centres, Chan said “human resources are most important”, noting a crucial need for experienced doctors and nurses across the region. “There is not a single bed available for an Ebola patient in the entire country of Liberia,” she said, adding that a further 1500 health workers are desperately needed in West Africa. Dr Roberto Morales Ojeda, Cuba’s health minister, called on other countries to help. Ebola is believed to have killed more than 2200 people in West Africa, the biggest-ever outbreak of the lethal virus. So far, the death rate is about 50 per cent. Doctors and nurses are at high risk of catching Ebola, which is spread via the exchange of bodily fluids. Cuba will be sending experienced doctors, nurses and other scientists to Sierra Leone in early October. They will stay for six months. Since the 1959 Cuban revolution, the country has dispatched thousands of doctors worldwide to work on issues ranging from maternal health to cataracts. Cuba’s program has been praised for improving healthcare in countries short on doctors, but also criticised for underpaying the physicians by funnelling too much of the compensation for the program to Cuban state coffers.