US envoy criticizes Greenland’s healthcare, says hospital ship is coming

Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Governor Jeff Landry of the state of Louisiana, has doubled down on plans to send a U.S. hospital ship to the Arctic territory, while openly criticizing Greenland’s healthcare system and dismissing local opposition. The idea was first floated on social media by Trump after Denmark airlifted a U.S. sailor for medical treatment in Nuuk

In an interview with Greenland’s public broadcaster KNR, Landry said Greenland’s healthcare is failing its people, claiming remote communities were being neglected

“The sad thing is, no one was talking about Greenland’s needs before President Trump did. We just want a chance to help those who need help,” Landry said.

Landry argued that remote towns and settlements lack adequate medical care, pointing to “transportation challenges” and a shortage of hospitals. He added that the idea was currently under review by the Pentagon and that he would continue to push forward with it.

“The Greenlandic people can expect me to be very aggressive in ensuring we deliver healthcare to remote places in Greenland,” Landry said. “The president said he wants to get the ship to Greenland, and I’m sure they’re working to figure out how to make that happen.”

But Greenland’s government has repeatedly rejected the offer with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen directly responding to the idea.

“President Trump’s idea to send an American hospital ship here to Greenland is noted. But we have a public health system where treatment is free for citizens. It is a deliberate choice,” Nielsen said.

Local experts echo Nielsen’s skepticism. Kjeld Møller Pedersen, chair of Greenland’s Health Council, told KNR that the proposal was a “bad and incomprehensible idea”, warning it would create more problems than solutions, including legal issues and disrupted patient records. Maritime specialist Hans Otto Holmegaard Kristensen described it as a logistical “nightmare”.

“Nuuk is the only place a ship like this could dock, and supplying thousands of crew members in Arctic conditions would be a massive, untested challenge,” Kristensen said.

Landry, however, said he has consulted with “a mayor in Greenland who wants the ship” and Jørgen Boassen, a former bricklayer whose accounts of healthcare struggles Landry relayed to Trump.

“I discussed it with the president, then with the Secretary of State, and then with the president again. He said: ‘Of course, let’s send the ship where we can.’”

He questioned why Greenland’s leaders would refuse U.S. assistance.

“Who would say no to free healthcare and a chance to address some of the problems affecting the elderly, children, or the seriously ill? That’s not how you treat people.”