By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Karsten

USNS Comfort Public Affairs

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (NNS) -- An opening ceremony was held for the arrival of hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) at the Georgetown Public Hospital in Georgetown Sept. 24.

The ceremony sparked the beginning of a weeklong humanitarian visit where Comfort is providing services at seven sites, marking the largest-scale visit thus far on the four-month mission.

Guyana’s Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds both noted their appreciation for Comfort´s arrival.

“Myself and the people of Guyana welcome the Comfort and this much needed and anticipated act-of-kind assistance,” Hinds said. “The United States and Guyana have a strong partnership and we have the greatest appreciation for the services that are being offered.”

Ramsammy talked about Guyana’s need to bring medical care to the people and not people to the medical care, as well as expanding their medical programs with the help of the Comfort and the United States.

“This is a small step for the U.S., but a huge step for the people of Guyana,” Ramsammy said. “By partnership and outreach with the U.S., we can build our capacity and do the things we do now, but even better.”

Georgetown Public Hospital was also the staging ground for Comfort’s biomedical repair team, along with the training department to provide education.

Comfort staff, consisting of U.S. Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service and Canadian Forces, as well as non-governmental organization Project Hope, are providing primary adult and pediatric care, dental, optometry, physical therapy, veterinary and construction services during the course of the visit.

Comfort is on a four-month humanitarian deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean providing medical care to patients in a dozen countries.

For more news from USNS Comfort, visit www.news.navy.mil/local/tah20/.