The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) started its campaign to collect zakat for 2023 during the second week of March. The goal of this year’s campaign, according to Dr. Faisal Sultan, CEO of SKMT, is to decrease the financial burden that cancer places on families who are already struggling financially. There are many challenges to face when a loved one is given a cancer diagnosis, not the least of which is the cost of the treatment and any associated expenses like hotel and transportation.
Your help is crucial in reducing the burden of cancer in these circumstances, he said. For the past 28 years, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust has been able to provide deserving cancer patients with top-notch care owing to the generosity of people like you.
On the effects of the donations made to SKMT last year, Dr. Faisal Sultan added, “In 2022, the kind assistance of people helped us to deliver financially sponsored therapy worth Rs. 11 billion to more than 75% of our cancer patients.
This will comfort you that Zakat alone is not sufficient to pay the costs of direct patient treatment and there is no chance that Zakat will be used for any other purpose. The percentage of Zakat collection in this was around 50%.
Only qualified patients are treated with zakat using a fair and consistent system. The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust also has a Shariah Compliance Certificate, which attests to the Shariah compliance and conformity of our framework for the collecting, use, and management of Zakat monies. Within the same year, the entire sum collected in the form of zakat is used to directly care for patients.
