GUJRAT: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, the coalition partner of the government both in the federal and Punjab governments, is planned to get official funding for a state-of- the-art hospital in Gujrat as its iconic project.

The hospital which may have 200 to 400 beds, will be named after former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who is also the PML-Q cheif, official and party sources told Dawn.

Punjab Minister for Industries Chaudhry Shafay Hussain shared the idea to establish the hospital in Gujrat while speaking to a group of local philanthropists led by Rasheeda Shafi Foundation Chairman Imtiaz Kausar at the inauguration of two water filteration plants at the vegetable market and Sheikh Sukha village last week.

Gujrat PML-Q President Ali Abrar Jaura and others also accompanied the minister.

The Rasheeda Shafi Foundation has so far established at least 130 filteration plants in the city.

The minister said the hospital would be set up as per the requirement of the local population and it would be named after his father.

Apart from the hospital, the minister said other projects of infrastructure uplift of the city had also been planned as per directions from the PML-Q chief whereas the airstrip of Gujrat would be rehabilitated.

Sources in local administration told Dawn that the initial work on the feasibility report was underway after which the project proposal would be sent to the Punjab government.

They said that a new public sector health facility in Gujrat was required for the last more than a decade as the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital, once a district headquarters hospital, had been upgraded to the level of teaching hospital of Nawaz Sharif Medical College NSMC as a stopgap arrangement more than a decade ago.

Moreover, a separate teaching hospital for the NSMC had also been the part of the medical college project which was yet to be established despite a huge chunk of land available adjacent to the NSMC campus.

Either a new DHQ level or a complete teaching hospital of NSMC was inevitable to cater the needs of at least three million population of Gujrat district.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2024