Greenland and Denmark say no to U.S. hospital ship
Greenland this week rebuffed an attempt by the Trump administration to circumvent its sovereignty, by declining the US president’s offer to send it a hospital ship.
President Trump has suggested that Greenlanders are all sick and need more help than their current health care system could provide. Trump has long harbored an eagerness to seize the Arctic island, saying its annexation is crucial to American security.
The spark appears to be the evacuation Saturday of a crew member from a U.S. submarine docked off the coast of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. The crew member was evacuated 8 miles off the coast of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, and transported to a hospital in the city by a Danish Seahawk helicopter stationed on a nearby inspection ship, the Danish Joint Arctic Command said in a statement posted on social media.
The rescue prompted Trump, who has vacillated between cajoling and threatening his way into the Arctic island’s mineral reserves, to try a new approach. After being thwarted in his attempts to either “buy” the autonomous, self-governing territory from Denmark or wrest it from it militarily, Trump is now concerned about the health of the Greenlanders.
“Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we will send a large hospital ship to Greenland to treat the many sick people who are going untreated there,” Trump wrote, referring to the person he named his envoy to Greenland in December. “It’s on its way!!!”
The White House amplified the message, which was accompanied by a depiction of one of the ships, the United States Navy Ship (USNS) Mercy, sailing majestically on the high seas.
The leaders of Greenland and Denmark stressed Sunday that their health care systems, despite some flaws, were superior to that of the United States and declined the offer, which they had not been officially informed of.
“It will be no thanks from here,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote in a statement on Facebook. “President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship to Greenland is noted. But we have a public health system where care is free for citizens. It’s a deliberate choice. And a fundamental part of our society. It’s not like in the United States, where going to the doctor costs money.”
Bo Amstrup / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images
King Frederik Basic training in the Arctic takes place in Kangerlussuaq and is managed by Arctic Command, the Danish defense headquarters in Greenland. (Photo by Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen echoed these sentiments.
“I am happy to live in a country where access to health care is free and equal for all, where it is not insurance and wealth that determine whether you get appropriate treatment,” she wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
Both ships are in dry dock in Alabama and are undergoing maintenance for the foreseeable future, according to maritime news site GCaptain.
“Donald Trump wants to send a poorly maintained hospital ship to Greenland,” Aaja Chemnitz, one of two Greenlandic politicians in the Danish parliament, wrote in a Facebook post titled “Another day. Another crazy story.” “This seems rather hopeless and does not contribute to the permanent and sustainable strengthening of the health system that we need. »
Nielsen also suggested Trump speak directly to the people of Greenland.
“We are always open to dialogue and collaboration,” Nielsen wrote. “But talk to us now, instead of just making more or less random statements on social media. Dialogue and cooperation require respect for the fact that decisions about our country are made at home.”
With news feed services
