Whakaari/White Island eruption: 1.2 million square cm of skin needed to treat burns victims

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

Tourism operator White Island Flights captured these images of the Whakaari/White Island eruption.

More than 1 million square centimetres of skin will be shipped into New Zealand from the United States to help victims of the Whakaari/White Island eruption.

Twenty-nine patients remained in intensive care and burns units throughout the country on Wednesday night, Counties Manukau District Health Board's chief medical officer, Dr Peter Watson, said.

Helicopter pilots who helped fly victims of the White Island eruption had a tough job.

Twenty-two of those patients were on airway support 'due to the severity of their burns and other injuries'.

Watson said the National Burn Centre, based at south Auckland's Middlemore Hospital, was 'urgently sourcing' additional supplies of dressings and temporary skin grafts for the patients.

**READ MORE:

Eleven patients from Whakaari/White Island are being treated at the National Burn Centre at Middlemore Hospital.

* Whakaari/White Island eruption: What we know of the victims

* 47 people were on the island when it erupted

Jake Milbank is a tour guide for White Island Tours. He was on the island when it erupted, and has sustained burns to 80 per cent of his body.

* Whakaari/White Island eruption: Family of four among group of tourists still missing

Google Earth 360 on White Island.

* Police Minister defends police for not going onto Whakaari/White Island

* Whānau of tour guide on Whakaari/White Island stand vigil at Whakatāne wharf**

'We anticipate we will require an additional 1.2 million square centimetres of skin for the ongoing needs of the patients.

'These supplies are coming from the United States and an order has been placed.'

Michael Schade captured this photo of the eruption from on board a tourist boat.

The nature of the burns suffered was complicated by the gasses and chemicals present in the eruption. That meant surgeries had to be carried out more rapidly than was the case for 'thermal only' burns, Watson said.

Surgical teams had been 'working around the clock, non-stop', he said.

Some patients were suffering burns to 90 or 95 per cent of their bodies and would require months of treatment.

All bar one had now been identified, he said. Delays in identification had been due to the patients not having ID on them, being sedated or being in surgery.

Dr John Kenealy, clinical director of surgery at Middlemore Hospital, said seeing this number of burns at one time was 'unprecedented' in New Zealand and in most countries in the world.

Surgeries had been taking place around the clock, with at least one surgical theatre in use 24/7, he said.

He said based on the injuries he had seen, 'it would be very unlikely for there to be survivors on the island'.

Watson said an Australian patient would be transported home across the Tasman from Wellington Hospital on Wednesday evening.

It was likely more Australians would be taken home on a specially-equipped Australian Defence Force aircraft in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Dr Vanessa Thornton, the clinical director of Middlemore's emergency department, said that would relieve some of the pressure on the New Zealand burns units and ICUs.

It would also mean the patients, some of whom were facing 'very long' recoveries, could be closer to home, their families and their support systems, which were mostly in Sydney and Melbourne.

Thornton said her team was 'doing our best' to keep all the Whakaari survivors alive.

'We have one or two very sick patients … We are hoping that they will survive.

'We're doing the best we can to ensure that.'