Can Zakat be given to those who have been in an accident and need an emergency life saving operation?

Q. Can Zakāt be given to those who have been in an accident and need an
emergency life saving operation?

Can this fall under the category of ‘debtors’ as the individual needs to pay this money for the operation in order
to survive?

الجواب حامدا ومصليا ومسلما ومنه الصدق والصواب

A. Zakāt can be given only if the recipient is already eligible to receive
Zakāt.  If this is not currently the case, the individual requiring the
life-saving operation can either incur a debt by having the operation done
and then receive the Zakāt to pay off the debt provided he/she is under the
nisāb threshold or else take an interest-free loan to pay for the operation
and then  receive the Zakāt to pay off the debt provided again he/she is
under the nisāb threshold.

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