Malaysia is in the midst of exploring the possibility of sending medical experts to Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, says Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

He said the matter needed further deliberation and approval by the cabinet, adding that Malaysia had committed to donating 20.6 million medical rubber gloves to the five affected countries.

“...and this is in the process of being transported to the affected countries,” he said in a telephone interview with BernamaTV from Washington where he is attending the Global Health Security Agenda Conference at the White House.

The conference was officially opened by United States President Barack Obama.

Malaysia is sending 11 containers, each holding 1.9 million medical rubber gloves to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Congo, the worst affected countries where over 3,000 people have died, so far.

In his address before ministers and senior officials from 44 countries, Dr Subramaniam said Malaysia was also exploring how it could extend further assistance to the affected nations to assist them in controlling the epidemic.

“Let us together put an end to this cruel scourge,” he said, adding that the global health security agenda was a laudable agenda to prepare the long-term capacity of nations to handle and manage epidemics and pandemics if they were to occur.

He said Malaysia had supported this initiative since its inception and this was reflected by the fact that the country was the lead country in the Action Package pertaining to Emergency Operations Centre, along with Turkey.

“We have been involved in the processes of building capacity needed to set up the Emergency Operations Centre in Malaysia and we hope to share this expertise with other countries in our region, and even globally,” he added.

In his remarks, Obama, who called the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a “national security priority” for the United States, issued a challenge to inventors and entrepreneurs and businesses worldwide to design better protective solutions for front-line health workers.

“If you design them, we will make them. We will pay for them. And our goal is to get them to the field in a matter of months to help the people working in West Africa right now. I’m confident we can do this,” he said.

The conference was also attended by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

- Bernama