"SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module" when running compiled javascript code with Node.js

I am using TypeScript to build a Node.js application. After compiling the code, when I run the output JavaScript file using npm start, it throws the following error:

When I run the following command:

npm start

I get this error:

SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

My app.ts (mainfile):

import "reflect-metadata"

import express from 'express';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';
import { useExpressServer } from 'routing-controllers';
import { connectDB } from './config/db';
import { CONNECTED_MESSAGE } from './common';
import { ENV_DETAILS } from './env';


dotenv.config();

// Create an instance of an Express app
const app = express();

// Configure built-in middleware to parse various types of request bodies
app.use(express.json()); // For parsing application/json
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true })); // For parsing application/x-www-form-urlencoded


// Configure routing-controllers with the Express app
useExpressServer(app, {
  controllers: ENV_DETAILS.dirs.controllers
});

// Connect to the database and start the server
const port =  3000;
connectDB().then(() => {
  app.listen(port, () => {
    console.log(CONNECTED_MESSAGE.listenPort, `${port}`);
  });
});

My package.json File:

"scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "node dist/app.js",
    "dev": "tsx src/app.ts",
    "build": "tsc && tsc-alias"
  },

My tsconfig.json File:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "ESNext",
    "target": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "rootDir": "./src",
    "strict": true,
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": {
      "@src/*": [
        "src/*"
      ]
    }
  },
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.ts"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules",
    "dist"
  ]
}

Environment : Node.js version: 20.12.2 and npm version: 6.14.11

I expect the command npm start to execute the compiled code without throwing an error. Are there any issues with my configuration, or am I missing something critical? How can I resolve this Error?