In a rare request, the aid group Oxfam is calling on the Australian government to back Labor calls for troops to be sent into regions hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was too hazardous without an evacuation plan and so far Australia has not been able to secure the agreement of another country to help out.
Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Helen Szoke said she welcomed the $18 million provided by the Australian government to assist global efforts to slow down the spread of Ebola, but said more needed to be done.
"The purpose of this is really to get a concentration of people on the ground who can actually assist in building hospitals with developing facilities so that the medical experts can treat Ebola victims as they're coming in," Ms Szoke told SBS.
Oxfam said troops will be used to help provide logistical support including building treatment facilities, preventing the spread of the disease and raising public awareness on how Ebola spreads.
The US has so far committed 4,000 troops and the UK more than 750, but Australia is yet to make any military deployment decisions.
Helen Szoke said Australia had no reason not to send military personnel.
"Australia, along with other countries has the capacity to deploy troops to help with this medical emergency," she said. "We’re really encouraging that the logistics are worked out critically because we’re seeing that this is really a battle against the clock."
With only 90 days left until the United Nations deadline set out to curb the spread of Ebola, Oxfam said that if more troops weren't sent to affected areas including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the Ebola crisis could reach 'exponential rates'.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the number of Ebola cases, and suspected Ebola cases, is almost 9,000, claiming more than 4,500 lives.
WHO has put the death rate from this outbreak at 70 per cent and has warned that there could be 10,000 new cases a week in West Africa by December if the crisis wasn’t managed.
