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Prime Minister Allen Chastanet Tuesday expressed gratitude on behalf of the government and people of Saint Lucia for the visit here of the US Navy hospital ship ‘Comfort’.

“I want to immensely thank the team from the USNS Comfort and the US Government for the valuable services provided gratis to the thousands of Saint Lucians who have benefited from this humanitarian mission,” Chastanet wrote on his official Facebook page.

Saint Lucians took advantage en masse of the services offered by the Americans, despite what a US official described as information implying negative ulterior motives.

Social media posts had suggested that the hospital ship’s medical staff would use locals as guinea pigs for experiments.

But both local and US officials had dismissed the negative social media campaign.

Saint Lucia was one of twelve countries being visited  by the USNS Comfort during its five-month deployment.

A Health Ministry official told St Lucia Times that the ship is scheduled to depart here Wednesday.

It arrived here on September 25.