The Ministry of Health will today send an air ambulance from Auckland on a mercy flight to pick up a baby born prematurely in Samoa.
Tamatoa Ingamells' parents yesterday made a plea to the public for donations, as the only possible way to get him to the Starship hospital in Auckland appeared to be to charter a medical plane at a cost of $100,000.
Doctors feared Tamatoa might die in Apia's Mato'otua Hospital, which has limited medical equipment.
But last night, Health Minister Tony Ryall told the Herald the Government would cover the cost of the family's return to New Zealand.
"I've made it quite clear that this is tsunami-related and we need to get that baby back safely."
Mr Ryall had just broken the news to Tamatoa's father, Richard Ingamells.
"I think they are very relieved," the minister said. "I told him they should spend less time worrying about how he will get home and spend more time on being a dad."
Tamatoa, who was also born with a cleft lower lip and defects to his legs, is hooked up to oxygen and an intravenous drip pumping antibiotics into him.
On Tuesday, he "took a turn" and stopped breathing and the hospital did not have resuscitation devices.
Although he did pull through using oxygen, his mother, Sarah Roberts, said he could have been not so lucky.
"It's touch and go," she told the Herald from Apia.
"If he stops breathing then that's it. But he doesn't need to die.
"There's nothing else they can do for him here. They feel helpless. He's in such a vulnerable position and he doesn't need to be."
Tamatoa is being fed breast milk through a tube in his mouth but he is not taking it well and needs to have a tube inserted into his stomach to give him more food.
Ms Roberts did not have travel insurance as she did not expect to go into labour so early.
On Tuesday, the Herald reported how the couple, who live in Waitakere City, had fled the Vacations Beach Fales resort on the island of Savaii when a tourist told them a tsunami might follow an earthquake they had felt about an hour before.
Ms Roberts then went into labour two days later.
After a visit to a local medical clinic and a hospital in Savaii, and a ferry ride in an ambulance across to Samoa's main island, Upolu, the family ended up in Apia.
Any money already donated for Tamatoa's return will be given to an aid agency to help tsunami victims.
How to donate to tsunami relief operations:
Pacific Cooperation Foundation
Deposits can be made at at any Westpac branch. All the money raised will go to the Samoan Government
Red Cross
- Make a secure online donation at redcross.org.nz
- Send cheques to the Samoan Red Cross Fund, PO Box 12140, Thorndon, Wellington 6144
- Call 0900 31 100 to make an automatic $20 donation
- Make a donation at any NZ Red Cross office
ANZ bank
Make a donation at any ANZ bank branch, or donate directly to the ANZ appeal account: 01 1839 0143546 00
Oxfam
- Make a secure online donation at Oxfam.org.nz
- Phone 0800 400 666 or make an automatic $20 donation by calling 0900 600 20
Caritas
- Make a secure online donation at Caritas.org.nz
- Phone 0800 22 10 22 or make an automatic $20 donation by calling 0900 4 11 11
TEAR fund
- Make a secure online donation at tearfund.co.nz
- Phone 0800 800 777 to specify Samoa the Philippines or Indonesia. You can also donate at CD and DVD stores.
Mercury Energy
- Donate at mercury.co.nz
or text the word Samoa followed by the amount you wish to pledge and your Mercury account number to 515 or by calling 0800 10 18 10.
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is asking for help with the clean-up habitat.org.nz
