Seven refugee hospitals in war-torn Myanmar have been closed after the U.S. froze foreign aid - with patients carrying oxygen tanks being turned out onto the streets.

The clinics, run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) along the Thai-Myanmar border, were shut down on January 27 following U.S. President Donald Trump's order to suspend funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Some 100,000 patients - including children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases - were discharged as outpatients were turned away due to the massive budget cuts.

Nurses and doctors have also been withdrawn from the shelters, with their patients left to seek medical help elsewhere.

Saw Pwel Say, the secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, 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.'

The IRC is the primary healthcare provider for the refugee camps, and gets around half of its funds from USAID.

President Trump, known for his hardline nationalist rhetoric, paused foreign assistance from USAID for 90 days, to be reviewed according to his 'America First' policy.

Humanitarian groups and United Nations agencies were alarmed by the sweeping directive, which will impact health, education, wildlife, and civil society programs across the globe.

Myanmar has fallen into civil war following the removal of democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, with a military coup in 2021.

Soldiers responded with barbaric force on protesting civilians leading to widespread condemnation and financial sanctions. Rebel groups and civilian militias around the country have since been locked in a series of ongoing clashes with the ruling military.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been jailed for 33 years on politically motivated charges and is likely to die behind bars unless the army is toppled - a tragic end the politician hailed by Barack Obama as an 'inspirational icon of democracy'.