Obama calls Ebola doctor, commends him for service

BEIJING (AP) — President Barack Obama is commending a physician who recovered from Ebola for his selflessness in going to West Africa to fight the virus.

The White House says Obama called Dr. Craig Spencer from Beijing, where Obama is traveling this week. Spencer was declared free of Ebola Tuesday after being treated in a New York hospital. He contracted Ebola while working for Doctors Without Borders in Guinea.

Obama is thanking Spencer for serving his country and West Africans. He says his administration will keep supporting people like Spencer who want to serve others. Obama says the best way to stop Ebola in the U.S. is to fight it in West Africa.

The Obama administration has pushed back against states that have imposed strict limitations on health workers returning from West Africa.