Huge bill to treat volcano’s victims

The immediate fallout of the Whakaari/white Island eruption cost the country’s burns service at least $4 million – but the true cost could be much higher.

Twenty-one people died when the Bay of Plenty volcano erupted on December 9, including two who are missing, declared dead.

A further 26 were injured, many suffering severe burns.

In the week following the eruption, the National Burns Service – hosted by Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, and including centres at Waikato, Hutt Valley and Christchurch hospitals – saw more burns than it typically would in a year.

Figures obtained under the Official Information Act show that as of February 1, the cost of treating patients across the four district health boards exceeded $4m.

However, the true cost is likely much higher – due to care provided in the months following.

Stuff requested the data in February – which is why it captures to February 1 only – but some DHB responses were delayed until early June due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Whakaari eruption set in motion a massive national and international response, with the last patients discharged from hospital in early April.

Initial estimates from Counties Manukau DHB show it reported the highest costs in the wake of the eruption, with $2.1m spent on the response. By May the actual cost of treating the burns victims had ballooned to $11.2m. This included direct patient care, including theatre time and clinical supplies such as skin for grafts, and indirect costs, including diverting non-urgent surgeries.

As of February 1, Waikato DHB had spent $1.67m on the incident, of which $1.62m was directly linked to patient costs. The cost of deferring elective surgery procedures there amounted to more than half a million dollars, the documents show.

Canterbury DHB reported treating patients caught up in the eruption had cost $1.1m during the same period, including 98 hours worth of operating minutes – totalling nearly $248,000.

Housing patients in the intensive care unit cost $241,896, and the DHB spent $175,000 on skin.

In Auckland, Waitemata¯ DHB doctors performed surgery on 19 people with neck or femur fractures as a result of the eruption, costing close to $286,000.

A further 13 people required hand surgery, at a cost of $125,300.