Spanish health officials on Tuesday announced plans of stepping up Ebola training for health care workers amid reports indicating that Spain is ill-prepared to respond to the Ebola threat.

The military and the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, that has been at the forefront of responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, will train Spanish medical professionals to help them protect themselves from the spread of the virus.

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Newest reports reveal that security lapses in Madrid's Carlos III Hospital may have caused the first transmission of Ebola virus in Europe.

According to The New York Times, EU investigators have found faults in the layout of the Ebola ward at the Carlos III Hospital where Teresa Romero Ramos, the first Ebola case diagnosed outside the outbreak zones, is believed to have contracted the disease.

The nurse aide was part of the team that oversaw the care of two repatriated missionary priests who were infected in West Africa and flown home for treatment.  

Ramos is reportedly still in critical condition, while 15 others, including her husband, are quarantined in the same hospital for treatment and monitoring. 

Spanish medical professionals have earlier denounced the government's budget cuts in 2012 that have led to the dismantling of the infectious disease center and intensive care units at the Carlos III Hospital.

The budget cuts have also limited training and supervision of contagious viral diseases as well as forced medical workers to work in cramped changing rooms in one-size-fits-all protective outfits.

The Spanish government has declined to respond to the alleged lapses.

In a statement last week, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said containing the spread of the Ebola virus is "complex and difficult," while downplaying the possibility of an outbreak in Spain.

Without claiming responsibility for any error, Spanish officials have instituted stricter health security measures in Carlos III on Tuesday amid protests by medical professionals of wider failures in the Spanish health care system, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The first transmission of Ebola virus outside of the outbreak zones in West Africa has in recent weeks casted serious doubts on Europe's readiness to respond to the contagious disease.

It has also drawn attention to the risks health care workers face when dealing with deadly viral infections and how the smallest deviations from protocols may cause the spread of certain diseases. 

The Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 4,000 lives in three impoverished West African countries and is projected to spread in Europe in the coming months, according to reports last week by the World Health Organization. 

TagsEbola in Spain, Ebola outbreak, what is ebola, budget cut, Spain