As tents halt services as a result of US foreign help cuts, border hospitals accept more patients.
THA SONG YANG, Sangat- A team of doctors and nurses battled to resurrect Adabi, an 86-year-old Burmese migrant fighting long-standing center problems and pneumonia, as her daughter watched emotionally in a hospital in northern Thailand.
” My family has suffered heart disease for many years”, said 39-year-old Lay Nge, who was too distraught to say more.
Adabi’s situation came as a result of US President Donald Trump’s decision to block most international support, which in turn forced severely ill people in her mountain refugee camp in Tak state to turn to government facilities for treatment.
The International Rescue Committee ( IRC ) provided services to tens of thousands of refugees like Adabi living in camps along Thailand’s and Myanmar’s border.
” After the IRC stopped its assistance, the people didn’t get enable like healthcare and other points”, said Tawatchai Yingtaweesak, chairman of the Tha Song Yang doctor, where employees revived Adabi, who goes by one name.
An IRC spokesperson told Reuters in a WhatsApp message that members of the refugee community had” self-organised” to ensure critical services for their communities as the effort was” transitioned” to Thai authorities.
Thai officials and refugee groups are scrambling to fill the gap while state-run hospitals provide care for the refugees as a result of the lack of foreign aid.
The Mae La refugee settlement where Adabi lives had one IRC-run hospital and two clinics to care for about 29, 000 people, staffed by a handful of doctors, roughly 50 medical staff and 100 volunteers, said Tawatchai, the hospital official.
With the IRC facilities abruptly shut, staff moved their operation to a former school, where an 18-year-old refugee gave birth on Feb 1 amid insufficient facilities, a relative and a schoolteacher said.
After making visits this month to the camp to assess its needs, Tawatchai will now take over the IRC hospital there.
” In the medium term, we would need support on medicine and budget”, he said, citing monthly electricity costs of about 40, 000 baht.
” I will go in to … see what more we can support. If there are inpatients, we would need a kitchen”. ( Story continues below )
The director of Ha Song Yang Hospital, Tawatchai Yingtaweesak (center ), speaks with a Myanmar refugee who has epilepsy and has been transferred from the Mae La refugee camp. ( Photo: Reuters )
Long-term burden
Yet beyond the immediate response, Thai government hospitals may not be able to deal with the long-term burden of refugee healthcare, said Kannapong Phiphatmontrikun, the head of Tha Song Yang district.
He demanded financial support from other governments or institutions, including the Thai government, to enable the hospital and its staff to deal with the camps ‘ current situation.
” This would be the right way to address this”, he added.
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul promised last week that the nation would assist refugees who have been affected by the US suspension.
” The Thai health system will not let anyone whom we can help to die in our country”, he told reporters.
Trump may go further by signaling on Tuesday that the US Agency for International Development ( USAID), which provides billions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid to countries all over the world but is currently in chaos, might be closing down.
Some Thai doctors warned of the hospital’s growing pressure.
” Thais living along the border have sacrificed enough”, said Nuttagarn Chuenchom, a doctor at the Mae Sot hospital along the border, calling for healthcare staff to manage refugee services.
” Currently we have a staff shortage and patients have to wait a long time”, she added in a widely-shared post on Facebook.
In a bed in a hospital ward at Tha Song Yang, 45-year-old Maung Lay, from the Mae La refugee camp, had a bandage on his head. He claimed he fell during an epileptic seizure while staying there because the camp’s medical facilities were closed.
” We have no idea what will happen to us”, he added. ” We don’t have money to buy medicines. If we don’t have any medicine at the camp, we all will pass away.