Government To Support Volunteer Medical Staff Fight Ebola in Africa

Volunteer medical staff heading to West Africa to fight Ebola will be supported by the Federal Government, the ABC reported earlier today.
After weeks of deliberations and refusals to dispatch doctors or soldiers to the African nations affected by the deadly virus, the Cabinet's National Security Committee has decided to assist volunteers (including a group of up to 200 Australians) wanting to travel to Ebola-ridden areas in Sierra Leone.
One of the reasons behind the Government's delay in agreeing to support medical workers includes not being able to firmly secure commitments from other nations to help evacuate medical workers in the event of one of more them becoming infected.
The Government has since consulted with the United Kingdom and the United States regarding assistance from those countries to treat Australian health workers if required, and an official announcement from the government is expected this afternoon.
In speaking with the ABC, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that any contribution from Australia to the fight against Ebola  would be "prudent and proportionate".
"In recent weeks, the Government has discussed the evolving situation, including measures to treat health workers, with our partners, in particular the United Kingdom and the United States," the spokeswoman said.
"The Government is considering these discussions and how it might best contribute further to the response."
While the Government is not actually directing medical staff to go to West Africa,  The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has welcomed the government's reported move.
AMA president Brian Owler said "clearly we would have liked this to happen some time ago, it is a pressing issue".
"Unless we can get people into treatment facilities, unless we can get the situation under control in West Africa, the number of infections is likely to spiral out of control," Mr Owler said.