It was a day like any other. Early morning, Muhammad had reached his rice mill to begin working on a consignment whose deadline was looming ahead. As he crouched down to start sieving the grains, he felt a dull ache in his abdomen. Assuming it was a cramp, he continued grinding and sieving the rice. Muhammad had been facing incessant swelling on his legs for some time now.
The local clinician had advised him to have his kidneys examined. However, seeking expensive clinical consultation is not a privilege for all. Muhammad and his wife Tabassum decided to pursue Unani treatment instead. The relatively inexpensive Unani medicines brought relief. Meanwhile, Muhammad continued to gain weight, and despite moderate improvement, the swelling in his body did not subside.
This treatment continued for a few months. By that evening, however, as he returned home from his mill, the dull ache and swelling had transformed into a sharp, shooting pain which had become too difficult to bear. Muhammad spent the night moaning in agony. The next day, Tabassum had to carry him to the nearby hospital in Balapur.
Daily wages and the burden of medical treatment
She asked her three teenage daughters to stay at home while she rushed their wailing “Baba” for immediate medical attention. After a few rounds of tests, Muhammad was diagnosed with a failing kidney.
The nearby government hospital refused to admit him due to his bleak chances of recovery, while the treatment in a private hospital would have cost three lakh rupees, with no guarantee of success. Living in conditions of poverty, finding such a sum of money was impossible. Muhammad’s kidneys continued to fail, and he could no longer bring himself to work. The household was left bereft of its sole breadwinner.
Muhammad was incapacitated, and his weight increased to nearly 100 kilograms. By then, he was bedridden, his body bloating with toxins as he gasped for the few moments when his abdomen was not causing him excruciating pain. Tabassum began working as a maid for her neighbours to feed their starving daughters.
Eventually, a relative informed her about Indo-US Hospital in Tolichowki. After a few calls to confirm the details, Tabassum managed to bring Muhammad to the hospital.
Throughout the month of Ramadan, Muhammad remained hospitalised at Indo-US Hospital. When he had arrived, his creatinine level was alarmingly high at 12mg/Dl, posing an almost fatal risk. Within moments of his admission, the hospital administrators mobilised their donor network to procure the zakat and sadaqah funds required to support Muhammad’s surgery.
Despite the bleak chances of success, through precise surgical intervention and comprehensive care for Muhammad and his family, he was eventually discharged after half a month of hospitalisation, having been given a second chance at life.
Help for the marginalised through charity
As an anthropologist pursuing his PhD, I have been conducting fieldwork across charitable institutions and Trusts in Hyderabad that hope to work for the welfare of the marginalised in the city. My aim has been to examine the changing welfare landscape for Muslims in India, one of the most marginalised minorities in the country as the state adopts an economic and political trajectory that is increasingly exclusionary towards them.
To this end, I have been studying organisations that address the economic, educational, social, and medical needs of the people of Hyderabad. As part of my research, I have volunteered with organisations that seek to provide medical relief to the poor.
Therefore, I have been examining organisations which work for the socio-economic welfare of the people of Hyderabad; their economic, educational, social, and medical needs. As part of my research, I have been volunteering with organisations which hope to provide medical relief to the poor.
Towards the end of 2025, I approached the staff of the Indo-US Hospital. Since then, they have been instrumental in helping me understand how the people of the city come together to support the marginalised during times of crisis when no one seems to hear their shrieks and all doors appear closed.
Established as a charitable hospital in 2023 with the help of domestic and international well-wishers, the Indo-US hospital has helped thousands of patients through schemes for those who cannot afford medical treatment alone. The goal of the hospital is to provide “compassionate care with advanced medical expertise.”
Over the past year, I have volunteered with the hospital on multiple occasions during the free medical camps it hosts each week across the slums and mohallas of Hyderabad—localities where aid and government intervention often fail to reach those who have been forgotten. The hospital aspires to make healthcare accessible to all, irrespective of caste, religion, gender, or creed.
My in-depth participation with the hospital has helped me comprehend a fundamental motivation which drives their work. In the words of a senior administrator of the Hospital, “It is not us who is helping the poor; it is God who cures their ailment. Our Lord is merely taking work from us to help His creation.”
I had met Muhammad after his discharge to interview him regarding his experience at the hospital. He was sitting in his one-room house in Balapur, confined to a wheelchair. When I asked him about his ordeal, he could not hold in his tears. The harrowing memories still wounding, he began wailing as he recalled the circumstances under which the hospital had come forward to help him.
Breaking down he said, “My children did not have anything to eat. There were two days when they slept hungry. The first night of Ramadan, my kids slept hungry.” Sobbing and gasping, he continued, “My seven-year-old daughter kept her first roza empty-stomached.” Muhammad paused and added, “I hope Allah keeps all of the people at the hospital well. When we were hospitalised, they brought us food. They helped us more than anyone ever has. Not even our own families.”
R, one of the hospital staff who accompanied me to meet Muhammad, began tearing up as he heard his wailing testimony. Late-night, on our drive back to the hospital, I asked him, “How do you do it R. bhai? How do you work in a profession as challenging as this?”
R. replied, “We do it because our profession demands caring for others. It is not just about finding donors to fund their surgeries. When they had come in, I thought that it is Ramadan, might as well bring in some Iftari for them. It is the small things which people remember. Our job is to help the dignified, especially those who are too embarrassed to ask for help from others.”
Muhammad’s trying times are not over yet. Due to his damaged kidneys, he must undergo dialysis multiple times a week to survive. However, regular dialysis is expensive.
Govt schemes available in Hyderabad, but with bureaucratic hurdles
To help those below the poverty line, the Central Government introduced the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme in 2016, which provides free dialysis treatment. However, access to the scheme requires adequate documentation, such as an updated Aadhaar card and a ration card reflecting the applicant’s current address. Many people are unable to benefit from such schemes because of inadequate documentation and limited awareness.
Muhammad originally migrated from Meerut and settled in Hyderabad two decades ago. His ration card had never been updated since his migration, and updating the domicile data would take a long time due to the overstretched bureaucratic process ensuing it. R. took this task upon himself and personally requested the District Supply Officer to fast-track Muhammad’s application, citing the humanitarian nature of the case. Within a week, the matter was resolved and Muhammad could avail free dialysis under the scheme.
Stories like Muhammad’s are one of many tribulations which people in the city face in their everyday lives. Yet, these stories also reveal an intertwined network of actors who rise to the occasion to help people in times of need. The staff at Indo-US Hospital mobilised domestic and international donors while also ensuring access to state welfare schemes in order to fund a risky case like Muhammad’s, providing assistance during the surgery as well as aiding him to avail long-term medical welfare during his recovery.
Muhammad’s case also reveals the changing relationship that charitable intervention is fostering in the medical landscape of the city. Aid is no longer merely a one-time act. It is increasingly accompanied by a desire to create a lasting impact that uplifts the poor and enables them to live dignified lives. My research has taught me a great deal from the volunteers and staff of institutions such as Indo-US Hospital. I hope that their work continues to receive greater recognition from the well-wishers of Hyderabad.
(Arman Hasan is a PhD Candidate in the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development
Sociology at Leiden University. He is concluding his fieldwork in Hyderabad on charity,
humanitarianism, welfare and Islam.)
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