British treatment center to tackle Ebola in Sierra Leone

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

LONDON, England – British military and humanitarian experts will set up a medical treatment centre for victims of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, International Development Secretary Justine Greeni

LONDON, England – British military and humanitarian experts will set up a medical treatment centre for victims of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, International Development Secretary Justine Greening announced today.

The 62 bed facility will be purpose built and operated by military engineers and medical staff. The initial phase of the facility will be constructed and operational within 8 weeks.

The UK’s support follows a direct request from the World Health Organisation and the government of Sierra Leone for assistance in containing the outbreak.

British military personnel will begin to survey and assess the site later this week. Based near the capital Freetown, the facility will treat victims of the disease, including local and international health workers and medical volunteers.

The UK government is working with Save the Children to design a long term plan to manage and operate the facility after it has been fully set up.

Announcing the deployment, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said:

Britain is at the forefront of the global effort to tackle this deadly outbreak, having already committed ยฃ25 million of support, including frontline treatment and funding for medical research to develop a vaccine.

The scale of the problem requires the entire international community to do more to assist the affected countries which is why the UK is working with the government of Sierra Leone to build a new medical treatment facility near their capital Freetown.

When it is up and running it will enable the UK to provide medical care for local and international health workers, as well as treatment for the wider population.

Minister for Armed Forces Mark Francois said:

The people of West Africa need our help and we will not stand idly by. The UK has been at the forefront of responding to the epidemic and our military will continue the great work so far. This operation will involve a unique set of challenges but I believe that we have the ability to provide support to the World Health Organisation, in helping to bring the outbreak under control.

Justin Forsyth, Save the Children Chief Executive said:

Ebola threatens thousands of people’s lives across West Africa and could set back development many decades. The key to combatting this epidemic is backing front line health workers and underpinning a fractured health system in Sierra Leone – without urgent action to assist medics, many more children and their families will suffer and die from this most appalling and tragic disease.

Save the Children is working alongside DFID and the MoD on a feasibility study to cement plans to firstly help set up the centre and then take it over with international experts, as well as local staff, to provide the very best life-saving health service under the most challenging conditions.

When complete, the facility will comprise:

a 50 bed medical unit for treating victims of the disease. Staffed by international health workers and Sierra Leonean medical staff, it will provide treatment to victims of the disease.

a specialist 12 bed treatment centre for health workers, including any local or international medical volunteers. It will provide high quality specialist care to ensure essential health workers can continue to respond to the disease as safely and efficiently as possible.

The health facility is in addition to the UK’s ยฃ25 million package of support to contain and control the disease. This includes multilateral support as well as direct funding to aid agencies operating on the ground.

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Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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