Insuring medical equipment for the hospital from zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa number ( 17969 )
Q: We are in the cardiac surgery unit at King Khalid University Hospital, and by the grace of Allah, we perform all open-heart surgeries. Allah has granted us success in achieving satisfactory results in this field. However, we are currently facing the problem of providing the necessary tools for these surgeries, specifically for non-Saudi patients. What we have is only sufficient for Saudi patients, whose treatment costs are fully covered by the state, may it be thanked, despite the circumstances you are well aware of. As for non-Saudis, Allah has made it easy for us to find a way to perform these surgeries for them, on the condition that the patient covers the cost of the necessary tools, which amount to approximately twenty thousand riyals per surgery. These are the costs of tools that can only be used once, such as heart valves and the like. Since many of these patients are in difficult financial straits and cannot afford to buy these tools, nor can they afford to have these surgeries in private hospitals—for example, the cost of a single heart surgery in such hospitals is approximately (seventy thousand riyals) or more—and since there are many people of good in this country who pay such expenses from the zakah of their wealth, we ask your eminence: Is it permissible to spend
zakah funds on purchasing these tools for non-Saudi patients who cannot afford to buy them, provided that this matter is verified and it is ascertained that these patients are unable to purchase the tools for their surgeries.
A: There is no harm in assisting a poor Muslim with the cost of treatment from zakah, provided that his poverty and his inability to afford the cost of treatment are established before the Sharia court. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: We are in the cardiac surgery unit at King Khalid University Hospital, and by the grace of Allah, we perform all open-heart surgeries. Allah has granted us success in achieving satisfactory results in this field. However, we are currently facing the problem of providing the necessary tools for these surgeries, specifically for non-Saudi patients. What we have is only sufficient for Saudi patients, whose treatment costs are fully covered by the state, may it be thanked, despite the circumstances you are well aware of. As for non-Saudis, Allah has made it easy for us to find a way to perform these surgeries for them, on the condition that the patient covers the cost of the necessary tools, which amount to approximately twenty thousand riyals per surgery. These are the costs of tools that can only be used once, such as heart valves and the like. Since many of these patients are in difficult financial straits and cannot afford to buy these tools, nor can they afford to have these surgeries in private hospitals—for example, the cost of a single heart surgery in such hospitals is approximately (seventy thousand riyals) or more—and since there are many people of good in this country who pay such expenses from the zakah of their wealth, we ask your eminence: Is it permissible to spend
zakah funds on purchasing these tools for non-Saudi patients who cannot afford to buy them, provided that this matter is verified and it is ascertained that these patients are unable to purchase the tools for their surgeries.
A: There is no harm in assisting a poor Muslim with the cost of treatment from zakah, provided that his poverty and his inability to afford the cost of treatment are established before the Sharia court. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.