China has reinforced its contribution to the fight against the Ebola virus by deploying a team of 163 military medical staff to Liberia, the hardest-hit country in West Africa, China Daily reported.
On Nov. 14, the team left Beijing and was China's first military group sent to run an infectious disease hospital in a foreign country. The facility will be operated as a People's Liberation Army (PLA) battlefield hospital of China.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 13,268 Ebola cases and more than 5,000 deaths have been recorded in the eight affected countries since the start of the outbreak.
The medical contingent of the PLA will run a 100-bed Ebola hospital at a stadium in Liberian capital Monrovia. The hospital director Wang Yungui said, "We will try to get the hospital running as soon as possible."
The team will stay in Monrovia for two months. Only 163 Chinese personnel will be in the hospital at any one time, which will not be enough to tend the 100 beds. There will be 480 medical personnel to be sent there in three groups, according to Times of India.
"One of the challenges is to hire and train about 100 local staff members," the hospital's deputy director Wu Hao said.
According to the PLA General Logistics Department, the PLA 302 Hospital has sent a medical team with 41 members to Sierra Leone.
Vice-Premier Liu Yandong confirmed that over 260 Chinese medical staff workers and experts are currently in Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.
Liu added that by the end of November, the number will reach 400 and will soon increase to 1,000, which will become the largest overseas public health assistance effort of China.
"I hope the medical workers and experts can bring China's experience gained through our fight against major epidemics such as SARS to those countries," Liu said.
Aside from funds and food, China will also provide materials including body thermometers, temperature monitors, protective clothing, gauze masks, goggles and sprays.