By Rebecca Chong
Differing views on parking woes at Sandakan hospital
SANDAKAN: A motorist here has expressed exasperation over the issuance of summonses to them for parking at nondesignated spaces at the Duchess of Kent Hospital (DOKH).
Hing Dick Khiang, 29, claimed yesterday that visitors have long faced difficulty parking their vehicles in the designated spaces at DOKH, especially during weekdays, due to an acute shortage of spaces.
As a result, it has almost become a norm for drivers to park their cars wherever there is space as long as it does not obstruct traffic, especially when they are accompanying family members who require urgent medical attention, he said.
DOKH is the only hospital in Sandakan district and the other hospitals are Kinabatangan Hospital some 100 kilometres away and Beluran Hospital about 130 kilometres away.
“What are we supposed to do when there are not enough parking spaces? When someone needs to send a sick person to the hospital, or even someone with a wheelchair, are we supposed to leave the sick unattended while we look for a parking space further away from the hospital?” Hing asked.
DOKH director Dr Francis Paul, however, has a different opinion.
According to him, the illegally parked cars have become a nuisance to the people and obstructed other motorists.
“This is a third world mentality. People just park anywhere they like when there are parking spaces provided for cars,” he lamented.
Paul pointed out that there are 601 official parking spaces for cars, with 253 spaces reserved for hospital staff while the rest are for the public.
“There are also parking spaces that are not gazetted, further away from the hospital main building but still within the hospital compound. More than 100 cars could park there. We notice non-hospital clients such as school staff or students (of Sandakan Nursing College in the hospital) nearby also use our parking spaces because it is free of charge. I think this adds to the parking spaces problem here,” he added.
Paul also disclosed that the hospital has given standing instruction to the police to issue summons to cars that were parked illegally and that they could come to the hospital at any time.
“Sometimes we call them (police) if the cars that are parked illegally are causing too much problems,” he said.
Paul also advised hospital clients to use alternative transportation such as Grab, taxis and other means of public transportation to avoid parking difficulties.
In early March, Sabah Health Director Datuk Dr Christina was quoted as saying that the Health Department had taken note of the lack of parking spaces in DOKH but that the department had to solve more urgent matters before taking action to solve the parking problem.
She noted that other hospitals in Sabah also faced the same problem but upgrading and expanding old building and medical facilities to improve the quality of health services were the main priorities.