The UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced the completion of final building works on five new Ebola treatment centres and labs in Sierra Leone.
The Port Loko and Goderich treatment centres were opened by Greening, while the remaining centres located at Hastings, Makeni and Moyamba are scheduled to open in the next few weeks.
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NGO GOAL will run Port Loko treatment centre, which will work alongside a lab operated by Public Health England to treat and diagnose patients in one of the worst affected districts. Goderich unit will be managed by NGO Emergency.
Justine Greening said: "Our fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone has been comprehensive and unrelenting.
"The UK has supported many hundreds of treatment beds, trained thousands of healthcare workers, boosted the strength of burial teams and opened three new labs to test samples.
"We will not take our foot off the gas now. This is a crucial moment and we will be here for Sierra Leone until the job is done."
The five additional treatment centres will each provide 100 Ebola treatment beds and will be staffed by local, international and NHS volunteer health professionals.
Over the next few months, the treatment centres will be scaled up as quickly and safely as possible. The UK is currently supporting 882 treatment and safe isolation beds in Sierra Leone.
As part of efforts to effectively combat the widespread effect of the deadly disease, the UK recruited, trained and deployed 2,000 community mobilisers, more than 600 religious leaders and work with 40 local radio stations to help reduce risk of infection.
The first British built treatment centre in Kerry Town is set to reach full capability with 62 beds now operational, including 12 for national and international healthcare workers.
Image: Justine Greening on a previous visit to Sierra Leone during the construction of Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre. Photo: courtesy of Staff Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC / MOD.
