Mosque in Vadodara turned into 50-bed facility as hospitals face crunch

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise and hospitals facing acute shortage of beds for patients, a mosque in Vadodara has been converted into a 50-bed facility.

According to Irfan Sheikh, Trustee of the Jahangirpura Mosque, this comes during the month of Ramadan, which is often said to be the commemoration of Prophet Muhammad's first revelation.

"Coronavirus cases have been rising over the last few days, leading to a dearth of oxygen and beds. Due to this shortage, we have decided to convert it into COVID-19 facility which about 50 bed," Sheikh told ANI.

"What better than the month of Ramadan to do this," he added.

Long queues can be seen outside hospitals due to surge in COVID cases. Doctors and staff scrambled to treat Covid-19 patients and hospitals overran by the influx of patients, unable to meet the demands for beds.

Over the last 24 hours, as many as 11,403 new COVID-19 cases and 117 deaths were reported in Gujarat, along with 4,179 recoveries, the state health department informed.

There are currently 68,754 active cases in the state.