The king of Saudi Arabia King Abdallah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has announced that he will give a $35 million in order to fight the deadly Ebola in West Africa.

Dr Ahmed Mohamed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) said that the king has initiated Ebola fighting programme and it will be implemented by the bank. The programme is aiming to provide schools with thermal sensors and medical examination equipment for diagnosing the disease and facilitating the treatment and preventing its spread in the area.

The medical equipment will allow governments to open schools for the current academic year and will students will be examined at entry to ensure that they do not have the virus and assure parents that their children are safe at schools. The funds will be used to provide thermal sensors and medical examination equipment at airports, railway stations and bus stations to detect the virus in people and thus stop its spread in the area.

The programme will establish specialised treatment centre in each of the three endemic countries, including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Suspected cases of the virus will received in these centres for further medical tests before they are referred for specialized treatment if required.