A Bolton community mosque is looking to help the local community by offering its space to help free up beds at hospitals.

Masjid E Ghosia mosque in Deane, Bolton, is now vacant after government advice, but is seeking to help the local community by offering the premises to doctors and healthcare professionals to support ill patients in care and help improve capacity at local hospitals.

The plans have been proposed by Dr Mohammed Jiva MBE, with the support of Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE, Dr Sharif Uddin, and Dr Rauf Munshi, with the group looking for volunteers to help the plans going forward.

Dr Jiva described the intentions of the plans to deliver end of life care within the mosque to provide dignity and support to those who the healthcare service has little more to offer other than respite care, therefore freeing up space at hospitals for Covid-19 patients.

He hopes to have the first patients coming into the mosque in two weeks time, but he says there is still a lot of work to be done to get everything ready and prepared.

The mosque will have the same standards as any hospital, and he believes these sorts of community initiatives are key in the response to the Covid crisis.

Dr Jiva said: "About a month ago the mosque asked me for advice on how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and it became clear it needed to be locked down.

"But I said why don't we give something back to the community.

"The response so far has been fantastic. Ive already had 50 to 60 volunteers put themselves forward, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

Dr Jiva plans to have up to 55 beds which can be used as hospital overflow, or members of the community can bring loved ones who they feel they can't look after properly at home.

He stressed that this is an all faith project, with the local health trust looking to use other currently empty buildings to make the system as efficient as possible.

The Bolton Council of Mosques is also supporting the campaign, with the initiative looking to be very successful, even in these early stages.

Said Mohammed Akuji, a trustee from the Council of Mosques, described how he hoped it would not have to be used to its full extent as he wishes everyone health; however, the mosque will be there for the local community if needed.

He said: "It's there for the local community with the mosque being turned into a place to get 50 beds into if needed.

"Hopefull it's a flop, in a good way.

"It was an idea very much pushed by Dr Jiva with the mosque being closed.

"Straight away we thought it was a fantastic idea and a great way to give back to the community.

"We thought how can we utilise this rather than just leaving it as it is, especially at a time when we really need something like this

"It's our way to help help everybody in Bolton as we are part of the Bolton family.

"It is open to everybody in the community and we hope that everybody supports it.

"We want it to look like a hospital as much as possible."

For more information visit the Masjid E Ghosia mosque Facebook page.