A five-hour Ebola training drill has been held as part of a series of training drills in the past months at Mater Dei Hospital, the health authorities said.

The training sessions were aimed at evaluating and improving protocol at Mater Dei's Infectious Disease Unit for the eventual treatment of potential Ebola cases.

Nurses at the IDU practiced standard operating procedures for Ebola scenarios.

Training was stepped up following the evaluation exercise held after October 3, when a patient was admitted with symptoms suspicious of Ebola. The patient was later found to be suffering from malaria. Additional headgear has also been procured for health care workers in line with WHO best practices.

For the past months, the Infectious Disease Unit has been carrying out Ebola professional training drills followed by debriefing sessions where an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses and areas in need of improvement was conducted.

Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne will be in Brussels in the coming days to take part in a ministerial conference to assess and discuss the level of screening in Europe’s ports of entry.

Mr Fearne thanked all staff at the Infectious Control Unit and the A&E Department for their collaboration and participation in this ongoing improvement process.