Greenland's government has strongly criticized the arrival of a US doctor in Nuuk alongside Donald Trump's special envoy, Jeff Landry, stating that Greenlanders are not "experimental subjects." Dr. Joseph Griffin claimed he joined the delegation as a volunteer to "assess the medical needs" of the Arctic island, which US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to acquire.
Health Minister Condemns Visit
Greenland's Health Minister, Anna Wangenheim, immediately denounced the doctor's presence as "deeply problematic." In a statement, she highlighted the historical sensitivity of healthcare in Greenland, which as a Danish colony suffered from health-related abuses against Indigenous Greenlandic people.
"The health sector in Greenland has historically been the subject of geopolitical interest," Wangenheim said. "A society with great distances, a chronic shortage of health professionals, and a demographic development that pressures the system makes us vulnerable – and that is precisely why it is deeply problematic when people with a political mission to make Greenland part of the United States send a so-called volunteer doctor to Nuuk to 'assess our needs.'"
She added emphatically: "Greenlanders are not experimental subjects in a geopolitical project. Our healthcare system must be developed through respectful cooperation and Greenlandic self-determination, not through political envoys with hidden strategic interests."
Prime Minister Rejects Sale
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also criticized the doctor's involvement after meeting with Landry and US Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery on Monday. "If you want to learn about health conditions in Greenland, you have to contact Greenland through the right channels," he said. Nielsen reiterated that Greenland is not for sale and that the meeting was conducted with mutual respect but reaffirmed the island's right to self-determination.
The visit comes amid ongoing tensions following Trump's repeated assertions that the US must acquire or control Greenland, sparking friction between Washington and Copenhagen. The US delegation's presence includes plans to attend a business conference, Future Greenland, and inaugurate a new US consulate in Nuuk.
Historical Abuses Fuel Sensitivity
Healthcare remains a particularly sensitive issue in Greenland due to past abuses by Danish doctors. Last year, former Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued an official apology for the intrauterine device (IUD) scandal, where thousands of Greenlandic women and girls, some as young as 12, were fitted with IUDs without consent between 1966 and 1970 in an apparent population control effort.
Foreign Minister Múte B Egede underscored the island's stance: "We have some red lines. We are not going to sell Greenland. We are going to own Greenland for ever."
