Maryam announces Rasul teaching hospital, medical college admissions from January 2027

MANDI BAHAUDDIN: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif announced on Tuesday that a state-of-the-art teaching hospital will be established at Rasul and that admissions to Rasul Medical College will begin in January 2027.

The announcement came at a laptop and Honhaar Scholarship distribution ceremony at the University of Rasul in Mandi Bahauddin district. The chief minister said the university had been under construction for about two decades and had only 149 students enrolled when she took charge, a number that had since risen to roughly 3,000.

She said billions of rupees had been invested in new departments of social sciences, life sciences and business management so that students would not have to travel to other cities for higher education.

Maryam said the laptop and Honhaar Scholarship programmes were being run on merit and that there was no room for political recommendations in them. "Punjab has moved beyond the era of recommendations," she said, adding that scholarships, laptops and other facilities were being provided according to eligibility. At her request, those attending stood to pay tribute to parents, whose sacrifices she said had enabled their children to pursue higher education.

On transport, she said e-bikes would start being distributed from November 5, with black bikes for boys and pink bikes for girls. "My daughters will no longer have to wait for anyone for their transport," she said. She said more than 35,000 kilometres of roads had been constructed or repaired across Punjab, and that 250,000 houses were being built under the Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar programme without political recommendations. Green buses, new markets, food streets and parks had been introduced in Mandi Bahauddin, she added.

The chief minister devoted part of her address to law and order and the protection of women and vulnerable groups. Referring to recent incidents involving a scooter-riding girl and a petrol station employee, she said powerful people could no longer expect to escape accountability because of their wealth or influence, and that she was prepared to go to jail for the safety and justice of the people of Punjab. She urged courts to impose punishments that would make offenders realise the consequences of their actions, and said she would meet the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the female Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court if necessary on issues of public safety and justice.

She said her government wanted a Punjab where the law applied equally to the rich and the poor.

Turning to students, she said the future of Pakistan was in the hands of young people and urged them to remain loyal to the country and to avoid violence or destruction in the name of protest. "Every child is a walking Pakistan," she said.

Pakistan Today also reported the teaching hospital announcement and the January 2027 admissions date.