Greenland Criticizes US Health Assessment Visit

(MENAFN) Officials in Greenland have criticized the presence of an American doctor accompanying a recent US delegation to Nuuk, arguing that the visit carries political implications tied to Washington’s growing interest in the Arctic territory.

The dispute emerged during a four-day trip by a US delegation that included Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery and President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry. According to officials, the delegation traveled to Nuuk to participate in a business forum and formally open a new American consular office.

Controversy intensified after physician Joseph Griffin stated in an interview Monday that Landry had invited him to Greenland to help “assess the medical needs” of the territory.

Griffin said he was serving as a “volunteer” and planned to meet local residents in order to understand “how healthcare is practiced here.”

Greenland’s Health Minister Anna Wangenheim strongly criticized the move, calling Griffin’s participation “deeply problematic.”

In a social media statement, Wangenheim declared that “Greenlanders are not guinea pigs in a geopolitical project.”

While acknowledging ongoing staffing shortages in Greenland’s healthcare sector, she warned against attempts to shape the territory’s medical system “through political envoys with hidden strategic interests.”

Landry has previously drawn criticism in Greenland for publicly questioning the island’s healthcare capabilities and supporting Trump’s earlier proposal to deploy a US hospital ship to the territory. Authorities in Nuuk rejected that proposal at the time.

The envoy had also pledged to be “very aggressive in delivering healthcare to remote parts” of Greenland and said the hospital ship proposal had been discussed with the Pentagon.

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