I wish to place on record that I believe that to charge for parking at hospitals is totally out of order, and many members of the public agree with my sentiments.
The majority of people come to the hospital to visit friends or relatives during the allocated visiting hours, or they, themselves have appointments with doctors or specialists. Only in certain circumstances would they stay longer than one hour.
The hospital’s tariffs for daily patient hospitalisation are extremely high and the parking fee is just another way of relieving the public of their limited, hard-earned cash.
There seems to be a trend in South Africa for many organisations or institutions and government to impose charges or fees on the public for various facilities; tollgates and e-Tolls, parking at shopping centres, increased entry fees to sporting events, etc.
I hope the above will reach some sympathetic response and the unpopular parking charges will be discontinued or at least modified. Come on, Life Hospitals – catch a ‘life’ – consider those with limited income.
Roanne Peters, Life Flora Marketing Manager responds:
During the national lockdown, the paid parking management system has been adjusted throughout all Life Healthcare hospitals.
In terms of the rates, it is much lower when compared to non-healthcare facilities. The paid parking management system was instituted to curb the influx of illegal parkers who consumed the parking bays for days. This caused an enormous parking availability issue. In addition to that, the paid parking system has decreased the number of car thefts.
The paid parking is not a financial gain in any way, as it is a re-investment to retain the parking management services who rent out the equipment and services.
