Australia Won’t Send Health Workers to West Africa: Foreign Minister

Australia said Monday that it will not send health workers to West Africa to help fight the Ebola outbreak as it was difficult to safely bring back any infected health worker.

Doctors without Borders, the international aid organization had urged the Australian government to send health workers to Ebola affected countries. However, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Health and Defense Departments had opined that it was not possible to safely evacuate infected health workers back home.

"The Australian government is not about to risk the health of Australian workers in the absence of credible evacuation plans that could bring our people back to Australia," Bishop said, reports The Guardian.

However, opposition health spokeswoman, Catherine King said Australia should send health workers to the Ebola affected countries.

"It should not be beyond the wit of the Australian government to strike a deal," she said.

"Just because it's not right on our border doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about something of this magnitude," she said, reports The Guardian.

Australia has donated $8 million to support the efforts in fighting the disease.

Meanwhile, an American doctor who was exposed to Ebola virus while serving in Sierra Leone was admitted to a hospital at the National Institute of  Health(NIH) near Washington DC on Sunday.

The doctor was admitted to a special isolation unit as a precautionary measure.

The NIH infectious disease Chief Dr. Anthony Fauci said that exposure o the Ebola virus does not necessarily mean that the person will become sick.

 "When someone is exposed, you want to put them into the best possible situation so if something happens you can take care of them," Fauci said, reports Fox News.