Washington DC, Aug. 12 -- US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) announced that Medicaid will no longer fund gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies for minors, saying his administration would protect children from what he termed "barbaric" practices.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the decision was taken at his direction by Dr Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Today, at my direction, Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that Medicaid will NO LONGER fund gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors. We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their youn...