Ebola is a National Security Priority, Says Obama

President Obama said on Sunday that the United States  will use its military resources to help countries in West Africa in containing Ebola.

"We have to make this a national security priority. We have to mobilize the international community, get resources in there," the President said on NBC's "Meet the Press," reports CNN.

  "We're going to have to get U.S. military assets just to set up, for example, isolation units and equipment there, to provide security for public health workers surging from around the world," he  said.

Elaborating on the consequences if U.S. did not take action, Obama said that the virus will spread to other parts of the world. There is also a possibility of a mutation occurring in the virus, which will result in it becoming easily transmittable, he said.  Such a situation will pose a great danger to the United States, Obama said.

Last week, Doctors without Borders, an organization involved in giving medical aid in many countries had criticized world leaders for not providing necessary help to the African countries in dealing with the disease.

It said that the governments of Ebola affected West African countries do not have the capability to contain the disease, reports The Washington Post.

Doctors without Borders had always stood against military involvement in such situations. However, Dr. Joanne Liu, its International President said that the circumstances have become so bad that the organization is now requesting military help for providing logistics support.

"Because the response has been so slow, we now have to switch to a mass-casualty response," she said, reports The Washington Post.

Some of the steps to be taken urgently are to expand the isolation centers, building air bridges for effective movement of personnel, mobile labs for diagnosis and setting up a regional network of hospitals for treating infected medical workers.

Liu said that the military has got rapid deployment capabilities and the chain of command structure to ensure the effective implementation of these requirements.