South Korea’s Health Ministry is receiving a surprisingly high number of applications from health care workers here who wish to be sent to West Africa to treat Ebola, in spite of the safety concerns expressed by the country’s biggest representative body of physicians.

Some 40 health care workers, including doctors and nurses, have applied for the 10 spots since Oct. 24, according to the Health Ministry. The application period ends Nov. 7. The competition rate is already 4-to-1.

Once selected, the team ― consisting of 10 medical professionals and 10 military health workers ― will leave for West Africa in November to care for Ebola patients there.

The ministry said it did not expect to receive such a large number of applications, and in fact had been worried about “not being able to set up a team” due to a lack of qualified applicants.

The government announced its plan to send local health care workers, including doctors, nurses and medical laboratory technologists, to Ebola-hit West Africa earlier this month.

Shortly after the announcement, the Korean Medical Association, the largest representative body of South Korean doctors, expressed worries about the “serious lack of safety training” to guard against Ebola among health care workers here, as well as their inexperience in treating the disease.

To date, no South Korean health care worker has treated an Ebola patient.

In response to the KMA’s safety concerns, the Health Ministry announced last week that should any members of the group contract Ebola they would be taken to medical facilities in the U.S. or in Europe.

Applicants for the proposed team must have experience treating infectious disease patients, working in emergency care or treating foreign patients in overseas medical facilities.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)