GUJRAT: The Punjab government has approved the establishment of a new district headquarters hospital in Gujrat as Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital that had earlier been the DHQ, has been converted into the teaching hospital for the Nawaz Sharif Medical College.

The Gujrat district government and the local elected representatives of the ruling PML-N had sought the construction of the new DHQ to cater to the needs of the three million population of Gujrat district.

The approval for the new DHQ comprising 260 beds was granted at an official meeting in Lahore with PML-N leader MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif in the chair around a week ago. Also present in the meeting, Gujrat DCO Liaqat Ali Chatha was tasked with identifying a suitable location for the project.

The official sources said that the new health facility would preferably be built somewhere in Gujrat city but any site located in the suburbs could also be selected.

It is learnt that the Nawaz Sharif park located near the general bus stand can be converted into the DHQ hospital since the land is owned by the government.

An official of the district government told Dawn since the Punjab government had started construction work on the Shahbaz Sharif park on a piece of 92 acres of state land along the bank of the Chenab river, the Nawaz Sharif park could be converted into the DHQ Hospital.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2014