Kenya will continue work on an isolation and treatment unit at an airbase in the East African nation that can be used to house U.S. servicemen exposed to the Ebola virus, its health secretary said.

“We will not stop it,” Aden Duale told lawmakers in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday. “Let’s not politicize the health of our citizens.”

The announcement that construction will proceed was made despite a court having directed the authorities to freeze the deal with the U.S. and disclose details of the agreement they signed.

The center being built in central Kenya is one of 23 that the government is readying should the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread across its eastern borders, Duale said.

Congo has confirmed 344 Ebola infections and recorded 60 deaths so far.

Kenya’s position as East Africa’s aviation, trade, transport and diplomatic hub places it at increased risk that the disease could be imported, Duale said. He called for an emergency allocation of 2.7 billion shillings ($20 million) to be made available to strengthen the nation’s readiness to tackle the first 100 cases.

While Kenya has adequate laboratory capacity, it has insufficient stocks of specialized test kits, reagents and personal protective equipment, the health secretary said. The World Health Organization has provided the country with 1,000 Ebola PPE kits, he added.

Kenya has an eight-bed isolation and treatment unit at its biggest medical facility and another 49 beds at the National Police Service Hospital, while county-level hospitals are expected to make additional bed capacity available.

“All such facilities are established for the protection of the people of Kenya and all persons within Kenya’s borders,” Duale said.

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