USAID cuts shutter India's first clinic for transgender people
===============================================================

### Byline
- **Imran Qureshi** - BBC Hindi
- **Cherylann Mollan** - BBC News, Mumbai

### Publication Date
3 March 2025

### Image


### Content
India's first medical clinic for transgender people has shut operations in three cities after US President Donald Trump stopped foreign aid to it.

Mitr (friend) Clinic, which was started in 2021 in the southern city of Hyderabad, offered HIV treatment, support and counselling services to thousands of transgender people.

Two more Mitr Clinics in Thane and Pune cities in western India, which were established the same year, have also shut down due to the aid cut.

In January, Trump signed an executive order pausing all foreign aid for 90 days, pending a review.

Trump has said he wants overseas spending to be closely aligned with his "America First" approach.

His crackdown on USAID, the US agency overseeing humanitarian aid to foreign countries since the 1960s, has been seen as a step to this end.

The pausing of USAID funds has affected dozens of development programmes all around the world, especially in poor and developing countries.

In India, the shutting down of the Mitr Clinics has impacted the transgender community's access to crucial medical support.

The project came into existence under the US President's agency for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003 when George Bush was president. John Hopkins University worked in collaboration with USAID and the Indian government to set it up.

A staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity to BBC Hindi said the three clinics catered to some 6,000 people and about 6% to 8% of the patients were being treated for HIV.

"All these cases were below 30 years of age. And 75% to 80% of this population was accessing health services for the first time," this staff member said.

In Hyderabad, the Mitr Clinic offered care to 150 to 200 transgender patients each month, many of whom suffered from HIV. The clinic had a small team of doctors, psychologists and technical staff.

"We were receiving 250,000 rupees ($2900; £2300) every month to provide services," Rachana Mudraboyina, a trans woman who was in-charge of the clinic, told BBC Hindi.

The news of the clinic's closure has come as a blow to the community.

Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a trans woman who has visited the clinic, told The Indian Express newspaper that she was "devastated" by the news as the clinic used to offer treatment at subsidised rates.

Another trans woman, who was hoping to use the clinic's services, told the Express that she was sad that she would no longer be able to do this.

### Related
- 
- 
- 

### Tags
- 
- 
- 

### Additional Resources
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
```