By Muhammad Nazir
Rawat, a strategically important town in the Rawalpindi Division, occupies a vital position along the historic GT Road and serves as a gateway not only to the Potohar region but also to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and parts of southern Punjab. Despite its growing population, expanding urban footprint, and increasing economic significance, the area continues to suffer from a chronic lack of adequate public healthcare facilities. This reality raises a troubling question: why has the long-promised Rawat THQ Hospital, whose building was completed years ago, still not become fully operational?
The hospital was originally envisioned as a modern healthcare facility capable of serving hundreds of thousands of residents across Rawat and surrounding areas. Yet, like many public-sector projects in Pakistan, it appears to have become a victim of shifting political priorities, bureaucratic inertia, and administrative neglect. While successive governments have announced ambitious healthcare reforms, the people of Potohar continue to wait for a facility that could significantly improve access to life-saving medical services.
The consequences of this delay are not merely administrative—they are human. Residents of Rawat, Gujar Khan, Kallar Syedan and numerous rural union councils, along with thousands of commuters travelling daily on the GT Road, are often forced to seek treatment in already overcrowded hospitals in Rawalpindi. In cases involving road accidents, cardiac emergencies, strokes, maternal health complications, and other critical conditions, the lack of nearby emergency care can mean the difference between life and death.
Healthcare experts argue that Rawat’s geographical location makes it an ideal site for a modern regional medical facility. Positioned on one of the busiest transport corridors in northern Punjab, the hospital could serve as a critical emergency and trauma care centre, reducing pressure on major hospitals in Rawalpindi while ensuring faster medical intervention for patients from surrounding districts and Azad Kashmir. Yet the existing infrastructure remains underutilised, a stark reminder of the gap between policy announcements and implementation.
Local residents maintain that the hospital building is ready and that with the provision of essential medical equipment, ambulances, medicines, diagnostic facilities, and qualified healthcare personnel, the institution could become operational within a relatively short period. More importantly, many believe that Rawat should not settle for a conventional THQ hospital. Given the area’s strategic importance and rapidly expanding population, there is a strong case for upgrading the facility into a model hospital equipped with a trauma centre, intensive care units, dialysis services, advanced laboratories, and comprehensive maternal and child healthcare departments.
The issue also carries significant importance for overseas Pakistanis, particularly those from Rawat, Gujar Khan, and neighbouring areas who now reside in the United Kingdom and across Europe. While many have built successful lives abroad, their parents, relatives, and families continue to live in their ancestral communities. For these families, limited access to quality healthcare remains a persistent concern. The availability of a fully functional and modern hospital in Rawat would provide not only medical relief but also peace of mind to thousands of overseas Pakistanis who remain deeply connected to their hometowns.
The Punjab government has repeatedly emphasised healthcare reform and improved service delivery. Rawat THQ Hospital presents an opportunity to translate those commitments into tangible results. Activating a completed public healthcare facility should not require years of waiting, especially when communities continue to bear the social and economic costs of inadequate medical access.
At a time when Pakistan faces growing healthcare challenges, allowing a fully constructed hospital to remain underutilised is difficult to justify. The people of Potohar are not asking for extraordinary privileges; they are demanding a basic public service that was promised to them long ago. The question is no longer whether Rawat needs a modern hospital—the need is undeniable. The real question is how much longer the people must wait for a project that should already be serving the public. Transforming Rawat THQ Hospital into a fully operational model healthcare institution would not merely complete an unfinished project; it would represent a meaningful investment in human welfare, regional development, and the fundamental right to healthcare.
