U.S. President Donald Trump stated in a Fact Social publish Saturday that he would deploy a hospital ship to Greenland, alleging many individuals there are sick and never receiving care, regardless that each of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships are present process upkeep at a shipyard in Alabama.
The announcement prompted a protection of Greenland’s well being care system from its prime minister within the newest level of friction with Trump, who has incessantly talked about seizing Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Here’s a nearer have a look at the information:
Trump claims there’s widespread sickness
Referring to his particular envoy to the Arctic territory, Trump 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.”
THE FACTS: There have been no studies of main diseases in Greenland these days and it was not clear which illness Trump was referring to.
All of Greenland, which has a inhabitants of round 57,000 individuals, is served by the Queen Ingrid Hospital within the capital Nuuk, in response to the Danish Medical Journal. The territory additionally has a number of regional well being facilities.
Most well being care companies in Greenland are free for residents and everlasting residents. This consists of remedy by normal practitioners, medical specialists and hospitals, well being facilities, prescription drugs, public dental care and residential nursing care, in response to the web site of the Nordic Council of Ministers, which is the official physique for intergovernmental cooperation within the Nordic Area.
In response to Trump’s publish, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen harassed the area’s free well being care system and identified the variations in a gibe on the U.S. system.
“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.”
Regardless of free well being service, there are “major public health challenges” on the huge island, in response to the Middle for Public Well being in Greenland.
A lot of these challenges are associated to present process “profound changes from a hunting society to a modern industrial and knowledge society” inside a brief time frame. More and more, individuals endure from diseases resembling weight problems, diabetes and heart problems.
Anna Wangenheim, Greenland’s minister for well being and individuals with disabilities, just lately posted an “urgent” request on her Fb web page saying the “national health service currently needs dentists for 3 different towns: Aasiaat, Paamiut, and Nanortalik.”
Regardless of tough entry to medical companies in distant areas and a scarcity of workers, notable enhancements have been achieved in Greenland, which solely assumed political accountability for its personal healthcare system in 1992, stated Lene Seibæk, a professor on the Institute of Well being and Nature on the College of Greenland.
“In 2020, life expectancy in Greenland was approximately 71 years for men and 77 years for women, representing an increase of approximately six years for men and five to six years for women since the 1990s and exceeding the global average,” Seibæk added.
Trump claims US hospital ship already headed to Greenland
“It’s on the way!!!” Trump wrote in his Fact Social publish, saying one of many hospital ships already was headed to Greenland.
THE FACTS: The USNS Mercy and USNS Consolation are at a shipyard in Cell, Alabama, in response to social media posts from the shipyard displaying the pair of white hospital ships alongside one another in late January. Publicly out there ship monitoring knowledge present each ships are nonetheless within the shipyard.
The Consolation arrived on the shipyard within the southern state on Jan. 23 and is anticipated to stay there via April, in response to the federal government contract for the work.
Repairs to the Mercy, which arrived there in August, have run previous their anticipated completion date. Authorities contract data present the ship is slated for extra repairs in March in a shipyard within the northwest state of Oregon.
Ought to both ship be rushed out, it will want further time earlier than being able to deploy. The usual crew of a U.S. hospital ship doesn’t embrace the total complement of medical workers wanted to man the huge medical services, which embrace 12 working rooms and 1,000 hospital beds. Usually, the ships would draw docs, nurses, corpsmen and provides from hospitals surrounding their house ports of both Norfolk, Virginia, or San Diego earlier than setting sail.
Trump’s envoy claims there’s a service scarcity
Landry, the Louisiana governor serving as Trump’s particular envoy, echoed the president’s declare Sunday on X that “many villages and small towns lack basic services that Americans often take for granted.”
Landry added that “small settlements are without permanent doctors, diagnostic tools, or specialist care — forcing residents to travel great distances for vital treatments that should be available at home.”
THE FACTS: Whereas medical service is typically not bodily out there in all settlements of the huge territory, telemedicine performs an necessary function for individuals dwelling remotely.
Sufferers in areas with out the mandatory well being care additionally might be transported to the nationwide hospital or regional services. In complicated instances, sufferers might be flown to Denmark for medical remedy with the federal government paying for transportation and remedy.
Rural People, compared, have lengthy confronted challenges in accessing essential well being care, partially as a consequence of monetary inequities and lengthy journey occasions. The obstacles have worsened up to now decade as extra maternity wards shut, pharmacies wrestle to remain in enterprise and rural hospitals and clinics brace for federal Medicaid cuts.
Since 2010, 152 rural hospitals, many within the southern U.S., have lower inpatient companies or closed fully, in response to knowledge from the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The enlargement of telehealth can ease some inequities, consultants say, however it isn’t a common resolution whereas many rural areas face supplier shortages and unreliable broadband.
Landry’s state is not any exception. Most of Louisiana’s parishes are totally or partially rural and 73% of residents stay in areas with out sufficient main care suppliers, 86% with out sufficient dental suppliers and 93% with out enough psychological well being suppliers, in response to the state’s well being division.
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Grieshaber reported from Berlin, Toropin from Washington, D.C., and Shastri from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
