Liberia already had only a few dozen of its own doctors. Then came Ebola.

Detailed description of the impact of Ebola on Liberian health workers

THE WASHINGTON POST                            Oct. 12, 2014

MONROVIA, Liberia — They were among the only Liberians who could treat Ebola, and in a single morning, it felt as if they were being picked off one by one.

First, before dawn on Thursday, Ebola killed Dr. John Tata. Then, hours later, Dr. Thomas Scotland tested positive for the virus.

With only a few dozen Liberian physicians in a country facing the biggest Ebola outbreak in history, it was a crippling blow. One Ebola treatment center closed its doors. Several of its hygienists and clinicians quit. Others left their shifts early to weep quietly outside.

 The United States and other foreign donors are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure and medical supplies to stem the tide of Ebola in West Africa. But the biggest constraint is not the lack of hospitals — it is the lack of doctors and nurses to fill them, as key Liberian health-care workers contract the disease or resign out of fear that they will be next.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/liberia-already-had-only-a-few-dozen-of-its-own-doctors-then-came-ebola/2014/10/11/dcf87c5c-50ac-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html

Doctors and nurses pray before entering the Ebola ward at JFK Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. After a doctor at the hospital contracted the virus, some employees quit and the facility stopped accepting patients. (Kevin Sieff/The Washington post)