Greenland does not need a targeted health initiative and access to health care there is universal, Danish authorities said today after the US president's statement on sending a hospital ship to the autonomous Danish territory, in which he is interested, AFP reported, BTA reported.
„The population of Greenland receives the health care it needs. It receives it in Greenland, and if it needs specialized treatment - in Denmark. "So there is no need for a special health initiative in Greenland," Defense Minister Troels Lun Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR.
Without explicitly mentioning the American proposal, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was "happy to live in a country where access to healthcare is free and equal for everyone. Where it is not insurance or wealth that determines whether a person receives decent treatment."
"The same approach applies in Greenland," she wrote on Facebook.
Like in Denmark, access to medical care in Greenland is free. The island runs its own healthcare system, but works largely with Danish staff.
The vast Arctic island has five regional hospitals, with the one in Nuuk receiving patients from all over the territory. In early February, the local Greenlandic government signed an agreement with Copenhagen to improve the treatment of Greenlandic patients in Danish hospitals.
Trump announced the plan on social media yesterday shortly before the start of a dinner for Republican governors at the White House.
"I am working with the fantastic governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, and we are going to send a great hospital ship to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick and have no one to take care of them. He's on his way!!!", the president announced.
When asked by DR, Lun Poulsen said he was not informed about the possible arrival of a hospital ship in Greenland.
“Trump constantly tweets about Greenland [...] So this is probably an expression of the new normal that has settled in international politics“, he added.
Yesterday, the Arctic Command announced that a crew member of a US submarine was evacuated for medical reasons near Nuuk - the capital of Greenland.