Foreigners seriously burned during the White Island eruption on Monday could soon be heading home, but concerns remain about their conditions.
The devastating disaster on Monday led more than 30 people to be admitted to hospitals across the nation, with medical professionals working around the clock in an attempt to save their lives. Some suffered burns to more than 80 percent of their body, with some also having internal injuries due to the gases and chemicals inhaled on the island in the eruption's aftermath.
Of the 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption, 16 have been announced dead. Six bodies were recovered from the volcanic island on Friday.
As of Saturday, 15 people remain in New Zealand burns units - two in Christchurch, two in Hutt Valley, three in Waikato and eight at the National Burns Unit at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital. Three people have been discharged while 13 have already been repatriated to Australian hospitals.
"That has just been a fantastic effort of coordination between Australia and New Zealand," Counties Manukau Health chief medical officer Dr Peter Watson told Newshub.
Of the 15 still in New Zealand, two are Kiwis, while the others are a mixture of nationalities, including from the United Kingdom, China and the United States.
Dr Watson said he hoped some of the injured would be heading home before Christmas.
"We will be looking to repatriate those people back to their home, but that will be dependent on their clinical situation," he said.
Repatriating patients to Australia was easier due to the short flight time. Doctors need to make sure they will be able to survive the flight and that there was sufficient support for them when they got back to their home nations.
Dr Watson said there were many benefits to repatriating patients, including the support they would get from family and friends. While many families have flown to New Zealand to be with their loved ones, he said they can't stay here forever.
"People can't be here for a long, long period. We want to get them home."
The patients would also be able to get settled at the medical centres where they will eventually receive follow-up care.
Moving patients on also takes pressure off the New Zealand services.
One way this is already happening is by having foreign burns specialists come to Aotearoa. The first - from Brisbane - arrived on Saturday and immediately began work.
Dr Watson said offers of help had been received from around the globe, including Australia and North America.
"We are following up on those as it is really important that we give our teams a rest. They have been working around the clock now since the eruption and we are going to have to give them a break."
While five days may have passed since the disaster, some patients remain seriously unwell.
"These people all have really serious burns. Many of them remain in very critical condition in our intensive care units," Dr Watson said.
"They are going backwards and forwards to theatre to have more operations from the burns surgeons. But they are all very unwell.
"This is going to be a long road ahead for them. They will have times where they get better. But there might be times where they become more unwell. It fluctuates over time."
Some of those in the burns units are awake, but others are in induced comas.
"There are a number with very extensive burns, so more than 50 percent.
"We have concerns for all of them. Because of the complications, this is not just a normal burn, because of the toxic gases and dust, some of them have inhalation injuries, there are the effects of the chemicals they have been exposed to as well."
Dr Watson acknowledged the efforts of medical professionals across the country for their work dealing with the unprecedented disaster.
