South Korea will send its second batch of medical personnel to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone this weekend as initially planned despite concerns about the possible infection of a South Korean medical worker there, officials said Friday.
A team of nine-strong medical workers will leave South Korea on Saturday on a mission to treat Ebola patients in Goderich, near Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, according to the foreign ministry.
They will first depart for Britain where they will receive safety training from Jan. 12-16 before flying to Sierra Leone. Five doctors and four nurses will carry out their mission from Jan. 26-Feb. 20 after taking on-the-job training for five days, it said.
Initially, Seoul had planned to send 10 medical staff for the second team, but as one nurse failed to pass the rigorous training, the government plans to send the final and third batch of 11 medical workers instead next month.
Seoul's first bath of 10 medical workers kicked off their operation in late December, but one medical worker was airlifted to a hospital in Germany last week to undergo a three-week monitoring on infection concerns.
The worker's index finger came in contact with a needle through a partly ripped glove while collecting blood from an Ebola patient. As the team member's blood tests showed negative results three times, there is a very low chance of contraction, according to the foreign ministry.
South Korea has joined global efforts to fight Ebola by sending medical workers and offering a combined US$12.6 million in assistance. The virus is estimated to have killed more than 8,000 people since December 2013, according to the World Health Organization. (Yonhap)
