Ebola: No more Canadian health workers to Africa

Ebola: No more Canadian health workers to Africa. HT: Crof.

Via Canoe.ca, a QMI report: No more Canadian health workers to Africa: Feds. Excerpt:

Health Minister Rona Ambrose says no more Canadian health workers will be going to West Africa to help in the fight against Ebola until "medical evacuation is guaranteed." 

She said the countries most affected by Ebola don't have the necessary equipment to deal with an influx of health-care workers who could become infected with the virus. 

Canada has an agreement with a U.S. charter, but other countries have similar arrangements with the same company. 

"It's one thing to have an arrangement, but if there was more than a few people sick, a number of countries would be in a very difficult position," Ambrose said Monday. 

The government's reaction to the international crisis has already sparked criticism from some medical groups. 

The federal government's "paltry" response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa leaves it significantly responsible if a case arrives in Canada, Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU), said earlier in the day. 

He said Canada should be encouraging health-care workers to volunteer their skills, as well as using its budget surplus to provide more than $65 million for the front-line battle. 

The federal government shouldn't wait for the virulent disease to show up on Canadian soil; it should be addressing the problem at its source, he said. "It is inevitable if we do nothing — there's no question about it," Hurley said Monday. "Their financial contribution has been paltry...I've seen no evidence of any mobilization of financial or health human resources behind the fight from Canada in West Africa." 

The number of cases of Ebola could hit 1.4 million by January. 

"The Harper government's theory that Ebola's coming to Canada is inevitable is true only if it remains committed to doing almost nothing to assist West Africa," Hurley said.