U.S. President Donald Trump stated he would deploy a hospital ship to Greenland, alleging that many individuals there are sick and never receiving care, regardless that each of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships are at the moment docked at a shipyard in Alabama.
Trump’s announcement prompted a protection on Sunday of Denmark and Greenland’s well being care system from their leaders, and it was the newest level of friction with the American chief who has continuously talked about seizing the large Arctic territory.
“It’s a no thank you from here,” stated Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
Trump’s social media publish a few hospital ship got here after Denmark’s navy stated its arctic command forces on Saturday evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine off the coast of Greenland for pressing medical remedy.
The Danish Joint Arctic Command, on its Fb web page, stated the crew member was evacuated some 7 nautical miles (8 miles; 13 kilometers) off Nuuk — the capital of the huge, ice-covered territory — and transferred to a hospital within the metropolis. The crew member was retrieved by a Danish Seahawk helicopter that had been deployed on an inspection ship.
Trump, in a publish on his Reality Social platform on Saturday evening, referred to his particular envoy for Greenland and stated, “Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there. It’s on the way!!!”
Nielsen stated it wasn’t mandatory.
“We have a public health care system where treatment is free for citizens. That is a deliberate choice — and a fundamental part of our society,” Nielsen stated. “That is not how it works in the USA, where it costs money to see a doctor.”
He added, in a word of exasperation, that Greenland is at all times open to dialogue and cooperation. “But please talk to us instead of just making more or less random statements on social media,” he stated.
Danish Protection Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, chatting with public broadcaster DR, stated Danish authorities had not been knowledgeable that the U.S. ship was on its approach.
The Pentagon referred questions concerning the standing of the U.S. Navy’s two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Consolation, to the White Home. The White Home didn’t instantly reply to repeated requests for extra data.
Each ships are at the moment at a shipyard in Cell, Ala., in accordance with social media posts from the shipyard, which additionally posted images of them subsequent to one another.
When requested concerning the standing of the ships and the president’s publish, the Navy referred inquiries to the White Home.
The traditionally robust bilateral ties after World Warfare II between NATO allies Denmark and the US have come underneath extreme pressure in current months as Trump ratcheted up discuss of a potential U.S. takeover of the mineral-rich and strategically positioned Arctic island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen defended Denmark’s well being care system on Sunday, writing on Fb that she was “happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health for all. Where it’s not insurances and wealth that determine whether you get proper treatment.”
“You have the same approach in Greenland,” she stated, earlier than including: “Happy Sunday to you all” in entrance of a blushing, smiling emoji.
Aaja Chemnitz, one of many two Greenlandic politicians within the Danish parliament, wrote on Fb that “Donald Trump wants to send a poorly maintained hospital ship to Greenland. It seems rather desperate and does not contribute to the permanent and sustainable strengthening of the health care system that we need.”
