Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), an NGO working in the charitable healthcare sector, has facilitated 50 heart surgeries of children of daily wage earners by leveraging zakaat funds.
Zakaat is a form of charity that is calculated at 2.5% of one’s annual savings. Under certain conditions, it is applicable to jewellery as well.
In a statement to the media, the HHF stated, “Notable among the medical aid provided was that 50 children between 0-10 years of age, born in marginalised families were provided full financial assistance for complex heart surgeries worth ₹1.5 crore. There is little choice for marginalised people to go to private hospitals, and the government facilities for this particular purpose are inadequate. It takes a lot of money for these surgeries — a minimum of ₹3 lakh. So, we do crowdfunding, raise money by means of zakaat and sponsor it. About half the patients were suffering from ventricular septal defect,” said Mujtaba Askari from the HHF.
He observed that while a large number of people continue to pay zakaat in the month of Ramzan, some others have been making these payments through the year. “This pattern has helped us reach a lot of those in need,” he added.
HHF stated that in addition to paediatric heart surgeries, they also supported as many as 476 children, who were provided aid for cancer treatment, general surgeries, dengue, medical emergencies etc. with a total of ₹80 lakh being spent towards this.
The NGO partnered with Azim Premji Foundation and urban primary healthcare centres, and administered over 55,000 COVID-19 vaccination doses in minority-populated areas such as those in Old City.
