Deployment of the USNS Comfort hospital ship was regarded as an essential part of Hurricane Maria relief efforts in Puerto Rico, but only 33 of its 250 beds are being utilized, according to CNN.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans have been stranded in understaffed hospitals and makeshift clinics on the island, many of which lack basic medical supplies and electricity. Puerto Rico's Department of Health has the authority to decide which patients can be transferred to the USNS Comfort but has failed to make many referrals.
Richard Rosselló, governor of Puerto Rico, blames the lack of patients aboard the ship on the island's diminished communications infrastructure.
"The disconnect or the apparent disconnect was in the communications flow," Mr. Rosselló said. "I asked for a complete revision of that so that we can now start sending more patients over there."