Ebola cure could be secured with greater investment

Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) President Professor Nicholas Talley has welcomed moves from the Federal Government to find a treatment for Ebola, but he said it does not go far enough.

“Both as Australians and as medical specialists, we support any move the Government makes to stop this disease ... We have stated strongly that we don’t think the Government has done enough, and we welcome moves to provide more support for finding ways to contain this outbreak and save lives,” Professor Talley said.

He said that with regard to the development and distribution of a reliable vaccine, there was much more to be done.

“Secure long term investment in medical research means that we can stay ahead of outbreaks like this and be ready for the next epidemic,” Professor Talley said.

The professor also said that Australia has a responsibility to provide support to health workers involved in official international containment efforts.

"There is an obligation on the Government to support those people and their organisations with both a military and a greater financial contribution,” he said.

At a mere 0.00012% of GDP - or $18 million - Australia's financial contribution to the international response effort is at the lower end of the international spectrum.

“It is critical that the Federal Government steps up its efforts to combat Ebola on all these fronts and makes a commitment to fund research for a vaccine,” Professor Talley said.

Conversely, Health Minister Petter Dutton reiterated that since the chance of an Ebola outbreak in Australia is "extremely low", attempts by the opposition party to incite fear are unjustified.

"The Ebola situation in West Africa has been the topic of discussion at multiple meetings of the National Security Committee," Mr Dutton said.

"While we won't comment on specifics, we continue to have discussions with the United States, the UK and other international partners about what assistance can reasonably be provided, over and above the financial support we have already sent."