Medical staff members take part in a Ebola virus preventive drill at Ditan Hospital in Beijing, October 30, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer

DAKAR (Reuters) - China plans to send about 1,000 medical workers and experts

to West Africa to help in the fight against the Ebola outbreak, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

China, Africa’s biggest trade partner, has come under criticism for not doing enough in the fight against the worst outbreak of Ebola on record. Countries such as Cuba, the United States and European nations have sent hundreds of personnel.

Beijing has already sent a total of 252 people to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three hardest-hit countries, and donated about $123 million to 13 African countries and international organisations to combat Ebola, Xinhua reported.

“In the months to come, more than 1,000 medical workers and public health experts will be sent by China to assist in the battle against Ebola in West African countries,” Xinhua reported, citing a government document by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said last Friday Beijing will send an elite unit of the People’s Liberation Army to help Liberia, the country worst-hit by the outbreak that has killed 4,951 people out of 13,567 infected in eight countries.