Greenland does not need medical assistance from other countries, Denmark has said, after Donald Trump said he was sending a hospital ship to the autonomous Danish territory that he wants to acquire.

“The Greenlandic population receives the healthcare it needs. They receive it either in Greenland, or, if they require specialised treatment, they receive it in Denmark. So it’s not as if there’s a need for a special healthcare initiative in Greenland,” the country’s defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, told the Danish broadcaster DR on Sunday.

In Greenland, as in Denmark, access to healthcare is free. There are five regional hospitals across the vast Arctic island, with the Nuuk hospital serving patients from all over the territory.

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, defended Denmark’s healthcare system, writing on Facebook 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 said, before adding: “Happy Sunday to you all” in front of a blushing, smiling emoji.

  • Nickelalloy@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Now i am pretty sure Denmark has no hospital ship but imagine if they would send hospital ship to the US with free healthcare.

    • ebolapie@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Maersk has the opportunity to help the Danish government do the funniest thing

      Edit: the more I think about this the more I wish they would, but it’d probably take 3 years and cost half a billion euro to bring a new hospital ship online. I wonder if they could borrow one from somebody. Fill it with European medical staff, send it to Corpus Christi. Start treating us like the developing nation we are.

  • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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    6 hours ago

    That’s hilarious. “You know what those Danish citizens need? American healthcare!” Who comes up with this stuff?

    Also,

    writing 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.”

    I would love to have a head of state as competent and sensible as her!

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    7 hours ago

    There’s also the minor detail that both hospital ships have been in drydock for refit and maintenance since last July and they aren’t going anywhere.

    So Trump made up some bullshit, without checking to see if it was even do-able.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      The whole thing reads like just another “side story” to keep media from being able to keep up with any one story and/or to feed various sides what will trigger them to continue to create distracting stories without actual investment.

  • neomachino@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 hours ago

    Meanwhile my 1 year old has a pretty routine surgery scheduled for next month that will cost me close to $30k after insurance.

  • lonefighter@sh.itjust.works
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    10 hours ago

    Ironically, if Greenland ever did become part of the US all those people that Trump is pretending to care about will instantly lose free or even affordable healthcare.

    Why is Trump sending free healthcare to other countries while US citizens are dying of easily preventable illnesses because they can’t afford medical care? I thought he was all about America first?/s

    • Lukas Murch@thelemmy.club
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      10 hours ago

      Trump sending the hospital ship to Greenland, sending $10B to the Board of Peace…he’s such a giving person when it’s our money. When it is his own? Not so much…

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        9 hours ago

        Don’t forget that he gave $40 Billion to Argentina in the middle of a government shutdown where we had stopped giving food to our own poor citizens.

          • madde@feddit.org
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            6 hours ago

            Why you guys in the US are not running around with pitchforks and torches is still unbelievable to me…

              • lolrightythen@lemmy.world
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                5 hours ago

                If not the ghoulish pigs, at least 1/3 of my neighbors would probably jump at the chance for some patriotic violence.

                • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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                  3 hours ago

                  Yeah, a lot of people don’t realize how deeply unstable a lot of “ordinary americans” really are.

                  For a long time they thought it was a land of progress because of what was essentially just effective marketing. A well-managed PR department and tight control of the public narrative.

                  A lot of people with fascistic tendencies weren’t really on the internet until around when trump entered politics. Then all these right-wing grifters started popping up and radicalizing large swaths of people.

                  Before then, people thought America was sane. It wasn’t, the insane people just kept to themselves for the most part. That’s the only thing that’s changed, really…

  • chuck@lemmy.ca
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    10 hours ago

    If china wants to piss of the orange guy they should float medical shisp to the major cities with ports and advertise no charge health services and see the hospitals reee with anger about lost sales

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 minutes ago

      Reminds me of the American town that asked the Soviets for funding during the Cold War. There was a town that was essentially cut off without a bridge, and the local American government was dragging their feet with funding the construction. The town sent a letter to the USSR asking for humanitarian aid, who happily agreed to fund the bridge as a giant “fuck you” to the Americans. Suddenly, the American government was more than happy to fund the bridge as soon as the “USSR sending money to the US because America can’t afford to build their own bridges” news headlines broke and they had egg on their face.

  • orclev@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    As if anyone in Greenland would want the substandard American healthcare, particularly with Mr. Brain-worm toilet-licker in charge of things now. Anyone visiting that ship is more likely to come away with some new disease like measles and a prescription to horse dewormer than they are actual healthcare. Greenland should put up a giant quarantine zone around the ship.

    • Smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      I am legitimately wondering if Trump would be stupid enough to do this. I’m sure it would violate all kinds of conventions, and would ensure no US ship would ever dock anywhere ever again, but at the same time I don’t think that would stop him.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 hours ago

        I’m sure it would violate all kinds of conventions

        Correct.

        and would ensure no US ship would ever dock anywhere ever again

        Unfortunately extremely unlikely, given the current world order of the US being effectively exempt from all rules and most consequences.

        I’m not saying there wouldn’t be SOME consequence, but it would be nowhere near as robust as that…

        • Smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works
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          8 hours ago

          Agreed on all points. As much as I’d love to think this would instantly isolate them, that’s even beyond wishful thinking.