The US Embassy has confirmed that the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) will visit Trinidad and Tobago in September.
The ship will dock at the La Brea port and conduct a number of surgeries onboard, as well as provide basic medical services in Cedros, Debe, La Brea, and Point Fortin to the regional population.
The visit is part of the ship’s five-month deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean on a medical assistance mission.
“The United States is committed to increasing partner capacity and regional collaboration for medical assistance and disaster relief – a continued high priority for the region,” US Ambassador Joseph Mondello said in the statement, as he thanked the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for hosting the ship.
Medical teams from Comfort will be working alongside host nation medical professionals in providing a variety of medical services to adults and children at the medical sites, as well as basic surgical care onboard Comfort, helping to relieve pressure on national medical systems strained by an increase in cross-border migrants.
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen tour a surgery room on the USNS Comfort, Tuesday, June 18, 2019, in Miami. The hospital ship is scheduled to embark on a five-month medical assistance mission to Latin America and the Caribbean, including Trinidad and Tobago. At right is Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
AP
Additionally, several medical professionals from partner nations will embark on Comfort to join the effort to provide medical care to patients throughout the region.
The embassy says the deployment reflects the United States’ enduring promise of friendship, partnership and solidarity with the Caribbean and the Americas.
It says that the USNS Comfort operation is part of the deepening of US engagement in the region under the health pillar of the US-Caribbean 2020 Strategy.
This marks the seventh hospital ship deployment to the region since 2007 and the second to Trinidad and Tobago.
Comfort medical teams will also provide care in Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis during this deployment.