Copenhagen: Denmark and its territory Greenland on Sunday rejected an offer made by Donald Trump to send a naval hospital ship to the Arctic island that the US president wants to visit. A day earlier, Trump said he would send “a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of many patients who are not being cared for there.”
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But Greenland Prime Minister Jens Fredrik Nielsen, who heads the autonomous region’s government, wrote on his Facebook page: “This will not be a ‘thank you’ from us.”“President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been duly noted. But we have a public health system where care is free for citizens,” he said.“This is not the case in the United States, where going to the doctor costs money.”As Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR: “Greenlanders are receiving the health care they need.
“They either receive it in Greenland, or if they need specialized treatment, they receive it in Denmark.”“It’s not as if there’s a need for a special healthcare initiative in Greenland,” he added.On the day Trump made his proposal, Danish forces evacuated a crew member from a US submarine off the coast of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, after the sailor requested urgent medical attention. The crew member was airlifted to a hospital in Nuuk after an unspecified medical emergency on board the ship, Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command said in a Facebook post.
– A hospital ship created by artificial intelligence –In Greenland, as in Denmark, access to health care is free for citizens. There are five regional hospitals across the vast Arctic island, with the one in the capital, Nuuk, serving patients from all over the region.Without explicitly referring to the American proposal, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that she was “happy to live in a country where access to health care is free and equal for all.”
“When insurance or wealth does not determine whether a person will receive dignified treatment.”Trump, in his Truth Social post on Saturday about the hospital ship, posted an AI-generated image of the US Navy’s medical ship, USNS Mercy. “It’s on the way!!!” He added.It was not immediately clear whether that meant he was sending that ship to Greenland.The US President noted that the deployment was carried out in coordination with Jeff Landry, who in December was appointed US special envoy to the Arctic island.Aja Chemnitz, who represents Greenland in the Danish parliament, wrote on Facebook that although Greenland’s health system has its share of problems, they are best solved through cooperation with Denmark.She noted that Denmark is “one of the richest and most educated countries, for example in the field of health care,” contrasting with “the United States, which has its own problems in the health care system.”Earlier this month, Greenland signed an agreement with Copenhagen to improve the treatment of Greenlandic patients in Danish hospitals. The Danish Central Bank warned in January that the Arctic island’s public finances were under pressure due to demographic trends, citing an aging population and a shrinking workforce. – ‘New normal’ –Trump has repeatedly said he believes the United States should control Greenland to ensure American national security.His previous threats to seize the region, by force if necessary, have declined since he concluded a “framework” agreement with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.Defense Minister Lund Poulsen told DR he was not aware of the possible arrival of the proposed US hospital ship. “Trump is constantly tweeting about Greenland. So this is undoubtedly an expression of the new normal that has taken over international politics,” he said. Meanwhile, in Nuuk, where a third of the island’s 57,000 people live, people are tired of the US president’s frequent jabs. “I don’t care,” said one man under a scattered icy snowfall when asked by AFP about Trump’s latest comments, while most people avoided reporters’ questions.
