Brussels, Jumada I 06, 1437, February 15, 2016, SPA -- The European Union launched an emergency medical corps Monday to respond to future disease outbreaks, after struggling to react quickly to the Ebola crisis that began in late 2013, according to dpa. The EU ran into difficulties in responding to the haemorrhagic fever, with various logistical challenges hampering its effort to deliver help to the countries most in need. Mobilizing medical teams to help in the frontline fight against Ebola was especially hard to come by. As a result, Germany and France proposed the establishment of "white helmets," medical experts and healthcare workers to respond to disease outbreaks. This laid the groundwork for the EU programme unveiled Monday. The European Medical Corps will deliver "a much faster and more efficient EU response" to health crises, EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said. It will include emergency medical and public health teams, mobile biosafety laboratories, evacuation capacities, medical assessment experts and logistical support teams, according to the European Commission. The teams can be mobilized for "any type of emergency with health consequences, at short notice," it said in a statement. Member states can opt out of individual deployments. --SPA 22:10 LOCAL TIME 19:10 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w