New Zealand has ordered 1,292 square feet of skin from the US to help treat patients badly burned during the massive volcanic eruption on White Island, according to new reports.
Dr. Peter Watson, chief medical officer of the Counties Manukau District Health Board, said that in the 24 hours after Monday’s eruption, the country’s National Burns Unit, located at Middlemore Hospital, dealt with the workload it would normally handle in a full year, according to The Telegraph.
Every burn unit across the country is at full capacity — and 27 people hospitalized are suffering burns to at least 30 percent of their bodies, medical officials said Tuesday, according to CNN.
Many have inhalation burns that require airway support, according to the report.
“We currently have [skin] supply, but are urgently sourcing additional supplies to meet the demand for dressing and temporary skin grafts,” Watson said Wednesday, according to CNN. “We anticipate that we will require an additional 1.2 million square centimeters [1,292 square feet] of skin for the ongoing needs of the patients.”
That’s a tall order, as the average human body has about 11 to 21 square feet of skin surface area.
The order has been placed and will be sent from the US, Watson said, according to the report. Skin and tissue banks from neighboring Australia will also donate skin grafts and supplies.
Skin grafts come from donors after death — and only a thin layer is taken, like the skin that peels off with a sunburn, according to the Australian government’s Organ and Tissue Authority.
Skin is usually taken from a person’s back or the back of their legs.
As the volcano erupted, victims were injured by boiling hot steam clouds — likely coupled with “very hot rock debris,” Monash University volcanologist Raymond Cas told CNN.
Their recovery is only beginning, according to Cas.
“This is just the start of a very long process that, for some patients, will take several months,” he said.
Six people are confirmed dead as a result of the eruption — and authorities say eight more, including at least one American, are missing and presumed dead.
The injured are also of various nationalities — and some will be sent back to their home countries as treatment continues.
Among them are 10 Australian patients who will be repatriated in the next 24 hours to receive “specialist medical care,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday, according to CNN.
