South Korea will provide an additional US$5 million in assistance to help Ebola-hit Sierra Leone where a team of Korean doctors and nurses has been dispatched, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The foreign ministry said that out of the amount, $3 million will be used to pay operating costs for an Ebola clinic being built by Britain in Goderich, near the capital Freetown. The remainder will be provided to Sierra Leone via the World Health Organization, it added.
The move will raise Seoul’s Ebola-related contribution to $12.6 million, it said.
South Korea has joined global efforts to fight the highly contagious disease. Ebola is estimated to have killed more than 7,700 people since December 2013.
Seoul’s first batch of 10 medical personnel kicked off their operation in Sierra Leone on Monday. South Korea plans to send a total of 30 medical workers in three batches to the Ebola clinic there.
The government said that it will make efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to contribute to peace and security in the international community. (Yonhap)
