Is it permissible to purchase a kidney dialysis machine for a hospital from zakat funds, given the dire need of patients in the city and the shortage of available machines?

It is not permissible to use Zakat funds to purchase dialysis machines because this is not one of the eight categories of recipients mentioned in Surat At-Tawbah/60. Furthermore, the benefit of these machines is not exclusive to the poor but extends to all patients. Nevertheless, it is permissible to give Zakat to a poor person who needs dialysis in a private hospital if it is not possible to obtain it in a free hospital. As for charitable donations, contributions, and endowments, they should be directed towards such beneficial expenditures.