Korea will send a small team of medical experts from the ministries of health and welfare, defense and foreign affairs to Ebola-hit West Africa early next month. They are to pave the way for a bigger contingent later.
Officials from the ministries made the decision in a meeting chaired by Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol on Monday, according to a government official.
They will go to Liberia or Sierra Leone or both.
Foreign Ministry official Oh Young-ju told reporters, "As the safety of medical workers is so important, they will closely examine the situation" and then the government will send a bigger team.
The government will start recruiting volunteers and other officials this week, while the Defense Ministry will put together several officers to assist the medical staff.
Park Cheol-gyun at the Defense Ministry said the group of experts, mostly medical doctors and nurses, will undergo training before spending six weeks in Africa.
Critics here say there may not be much point in the exercise since no physician in this country has ever treated an Ebola patient.
But Kwon Joon-wook at the Health Ministry said, "There are experienced workers here who have worked on preventing, containing, and treating patients with, infectious diseases similar to Ebola."
The government is considering a 21-day quarantine for returning medical workers considering the incubation period of the deadly virus.
englishnews@chosun.com / Oct. 21, 2014 12:46 KST
