A PARAMEDIC who joined the fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone has returned to the UK.

Chris Williams, 58, who works at Worthing Hospital, spent six weeks in West Africa tackling the disease, which has killed more than 8,000 people.

Chris said he had seen the reports of the epidemic on television and wanted to help, so when he heard that a colleague was applying to go out to Sierra Leone he applied too.

He said: “When we first got there the treatment centre wasn’t finished. So we just got on with it – we unloaded beds and equipment from the trucks and set up a pharmacy and warehouse.

“The most patients we had at one time was about 30, and we treated quite a lot of children. The first children we lost were a pair of twins, whose mother had died a few days earlier.”

Chris spent Christmas and his birthday at the treatment centre.

He said: “Food was pretty poor - I think our Christmas dinner was fish head casserole. I did get a proper Christmas dinner when I was home.”

Chris is no stranger to dangerous situations, having gone to Romania as an aid worker after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.

He was also one of the first paramedics on the scene of the Brighton Bombing 20 years ago.

He said his experience in Africa was very different to previous work.

He said: “In Romania I was moving supplies but in Sierra Leone I was treating patients.”

Since returning home on January 18 he has measured his temperature twice a day, and must continue to do so for three weeks before he can return to work.

He said: “I am looking forward to going back to work but it is nice to have time to spend with my family and get back to normal.”

He added: “It’s nice to know that by the time we left the number of cases has dropped. I would happily go back and continue the work, but hopefully there won’t be a need.

“Although there were some really hard moments, it was a good experience and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”