The welcome Korean medical staff received on returning home Monday after a month of treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone apparently was less than what they deserved.

There was not even a placard welcoming the nine health care workers at Incheon International Airport. A mid-level government official made short welcoming remarks at the airport’s security area before they were whisked away to a quarantine facility, without being noticed by other people.

The medical personnel themselves had requested that they be greeted in a low-key manner. The reason they made this request serves as a reminder that our society is still far from being free of prejudice. The health care workers are said to have worried that if their identities were revealed, they and their family members would have difficulties in everyday life.

Some might say they were being hypersensitive and overprotective. But many of us would hesitate to shake hands with or even speak to someone who spent a month treating patients infected with the deadly virus. Some overly anxious parents would probably even keep their children away from the sons and daughters of the medical personnel.

Professional experience may have made the health care workers well aware of Koreans’ oversensitivity regarding epidemics. Even so, their unpublicized return was in sharp contrast to the heroes’ welcome given to the returning U.S. medical personnel. In a news conference following a meeting with a group of health care workers who traveled to West Africa to help contain Ebola in October, President Barack Obama emphasized the need to “call them what they are: American heroes.”

It is regretful that concern over other citizens’ biases prevented Korea’s own heroic health care workers from being greeted in a way that befitted their sense of duty and willingness to risk their lives to help others. One of the 10 members of Korea’s first medical team dispatched to Sierra Leone in December was moved to a German hospital during the mission, after his finger was scratched by a needle while collecting blood from an Ebola patient. The worker was discharged last week after testing negative for the virus.

Nine medical personnel from the second group of aid workers began their work in the West African country on Monday. The final 11-member team will depart from Seoul early next month.

This is the first time South Korean medical personnel have been sent to respond to an epidemic overseas, and their mission has set a valuable example for Korean citizens. Their courageous work should help change mindsets here and make people more willing to contribute to solving global problems, in line with international expectations for the country. The sense of calling shown by the volunteer medical professionals should also inspire the Korean public to build an inclusive civil society that ensures a harmonious and safe life for its members.

It is hoped that President Park Geun-hye will invite the nine health care workers immediately after their quarantine period ― Obama objected to placing returning Ebola volunteers under a mandatory quarantine ― to her office to recognize their work. They may still want the possible gathering with Park to go unpublicized. But we hope the rest of Korea’s Ebola aid workers will return home to a heroes’ welcome under proper medical precautions. This would be a step forward in building a society in which rational judgment based on objective facts prevails over irrational fears.