US aid freeze is new threat for ailing Myanmar refugees on Thai border

Tawatchai Yingtaweesak, a hospital director, speaks to Maung Lay, 45, a refugee from Myanmar who suffers from epilepsy and was transferred to Tha Song Yang Hospital following a halt in U.S. foreign aid that led to the closure of health services inside Mae La refugee camp nearby on the Thai-Myanmar border, at Tha Song Yang district, Tak Province, a Thai-Myanmar border province, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

THA SONG YANG, Thailand (Reuters) - A team of doctors and nurses battled to revive Adabi, an 86-year-old Myanmar refugee fighting long-standing heart problems and pneumonia, as her daughter watched tearfully in a hospital in northwestern Thailand.

"My mother has suffered heart disease for many years," said 39-year-old Lay Nge, who was too distraught to say more.