BRITISH doctors, nurses and paramedics are flocking to join the front line in the fight against Ebola.
At least 164 NHS staff have answered a call for volunteers issued on Friday and the number is said to be "going up all the time".
All the volunteers will undergo special training before heading to Sierra Leone, initially for six weeks.
Their main task will be to help set up a medical unit funded by the UK Government in Kerrytown, a community at the heart of the epidemic near the capital Freetown.
The facility will provide 12 beds dedicated to health care workers, in the hope that this will attract more volunteer staff willing to take on the risk of Ebola infection. Another 50 beds will be allocated to local people.
British Army engineers are building the centre while the volunteer operation is co-ordinated by UK-Med, a non-governmental organisation specialising in the provision of health staff to conflict and disaster zones.
The news came with details about a move to fast-track trials of promising treatments.
A £3.2 million grant from the UK research charity The Wellcome Trust will fund clinical trials that are due to begin within two months.
Several approaches that have shown potential in the laboratory will be investigated. British nurse Will Pooley, who contracted Ebola and was treated with the experimental antibody drug ZMapp, has agreed to donate plasma to treat victims.
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