China sends first PLA medical team to the China-aid Ebola Treatment center in Liberia (linked to Record ID#41552, #45030)

On November 15, 2014, the People's Liberation Army of China's first medical team arrived in Liberia to set up and operate the Chinese-funded Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) Sports Complex in Paynesville City outside Monrovia.

This team was the first batch of 480 expected Chinese medical personnel designated to fight the ongoing Ebola crisis (see linked Record ID#41552).

The 163-member team included medical experts, epidemiologists, doctors, nurses, engineers and technicians from the People's Liberation Army who began the process of the initial admission and treatment of suspected and confirmed Ebola patients. They also provided public health and infection control training for relevant local personnel.

According to a journal published in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 112 Ebola-suspected patients presented to the ETU, 65 patients were admitted, including 5 confirmed cases, and 3 confirmed cases were cured.

Furthermore, 1520 local people were trained, including health care workers, military health care workers, staff members employed by the ETU, and community residents, about the basics of fighting the Ebola virus for the team's 2 month stay.

The staffers were primarily from the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, with a few dozen from other military hospitals in Shenyang.

Over two-third of the staffers had experience with the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in a military-led infectious disease hospital established in 2003.

Before they were deployed, the staffers received 6 weeks of extensive training on disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as prevention and surveillance.

The training program included measures of self-protection as the medical teams sought “zero infections” of their own staff.

The staffers also received English language training and were provided with information on local geographical conditions. The ETU construction and financing is captured in Record ID#45030.