Healthcare services in refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) were suspended on 27 January 2025, following an order from the new United States (US) President, Donald Trump.
The IRC is the main healthcare provider in the refugee camps housing refugees from Myanmar in Thailand on the border with Myanmar.
The IRC gets about half of its funding from the US government and part of its work is to help resettle refugees in the US. Donald Trump who promised to reduce immigration if elected, has ordered a 90-day pause in all US government funding to the IRC, which is why it has had to suspend all healthcare services to the refugee camps in Thailand.
As a result of the IRC’s suspension of healthcare, hospitals in the refugee camps have had to discharge all their patients except for emergency cases and stop seeing outpatients, according to healthcare officials working in the camps.
A healthcare worker working in Nupo Refugee Camp on the border with Myanmar in Thailand’s Tak Province said to KIC: "We don't know exactly what's going on. Following instructions from higher up, we discharged patients from the hospital. I only learned this morning that all IRC operations would be halted. I'm not sure how long this will last. We were told we'd be contacted if anything changes. We also heard we won’t be paid this month. We don't know if we'll ever be able to resume work or when we'll receive our salaries.”
As well as being suspended in Nupo Refugee Camp, IRC provided healthcare was also suspended in the Tak Province refugee camps of Umpiem and Mae La on 27 January. Ambulance drivers in all three camps have also been suspended from their jobs, according to information received by KIC.
A healthcare worker from Mae La refugee camp said to KIC: “At the moment, relevant officials are holding a series of meetings. While the number of patients has been assessed, all have since been discharged. And medical equipment is now being packed away.”
Saw Pwel Say, the secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) said: “The IRC has informed us that they have stopped operations because they are no longer receiving aid. If there are no hospitals in the camps, there will be tremendous hardships. We don’t know how long this situation will last. We will have to sit in a meeting to decide what to do next.”
Currently, waste collection in the camps has also been suspended, according to KRC
As well as providing healthcare in the camps, the IRC had also been collecting waste, supplying drinking water and providing care for mothers and children in the camps.
