MARK Smith went through the two Gulf Wars – now he faces a fight on the Ebola frontline.

The senior paramedic in the county heads out to Sierra Leone on Saturday and a six-week secondment at the centre where Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was based before contracting the disease.

Her condition is said to have stabilised over recent days after being listed as critical.

Mr Smith admits to having been “a little concerned” at this, but he’s putting his faith in a tightening up of already tight protection measures which mean he’ll spend much of his time at the centre sealed in a biohazard suit.

The 57-year-old from Colwall says his fight against ebola is personal when the disease denies “the human touch” to the end.

“It robs parents of that last contact with children and children of that last contact with parents. As a medical professional it doesn’t get much more personal than that,” he said.

The NHS put out a call earlier this year when UK volunteers were wanted to boost the UK effort against Ebola.

Mr Smith, a Herefordbased area support officer and fast-response specialist with West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS), says his family are right behind his response.

“They understand this is something I want, and need, to do,” he says.

The former soldier is no stranger to high risk situations having served as a reserve military medic in both Gulf Wars and come under regular missile attack among other tests.

Right now, Mr Smith’s secluded at a training centre to secure the protocols he’s going to need to survive as soon as he arrives in Freetown, the Serra Leonean capital, this Saturday.

According to the World Health Organisation, there have been more than 5,200 confirmed, probable and suspected Ebola cases in Sierra Leone, out of 13,703 worldwide, and 1,500 deaths.

Mr Smith will be based in Kerry Town, a Freetown suburb, working at a Save the Children centre where Pauline Cafferkey, the Scottish nurse diagnosed with Ebola over the New Year, worked as a volunteer.

He’s due back in the UK by mid- February, but not Herefordshire until 21 days of quarantine are up.