LETTER | I am a doctor working in Hospital Queen Elizabeth I (HQE1)

Parking woes are part and parcel of working at Malaysian government hospitals. A quick google search on parking issues reveals multiple letters written from Hospital Selayang, UM Medical Centre, Serdang Hospital and many others.

HQE1 is no different. Bad planning, poor foresight and selfishness are the main reasons for the lack of parking spots.

The ground floor of the multilevel parking area has cars that are ‘permanently’ there. Senior staff members (not only doctors) have been known to use the parking area as their own personal space. Cars are left for long periods while being shifted around periodically.

The administration has turned a blind eye and deaf ear to these complaints. I urge them to take drastic action in solving or at least alleviating these woes.

Reserved parking areas should only be kept for clinical staff as we do not work according to fixed office hours. Many of the administration staff not involved in clinical work have a reserved parking area, which is unnecessary.

Clinical staff often work past office hours (regardless of whether on call or not) and their safety is at risk as many parking areas are dark and not well lit. Must we wait for an unwanted incident before action is taken?

Parking slots for on-call doctors need to be expanded and supervised to ensure others do not park there. Also, there are currently less than 20 slots, which is a ridiculous amount for such a large hospital.

These parking issues have caused both staff and patients to resort to using Grab services to move in and out of the hospital to avoid delays due to the lack of parking area.

We have resorted to parking on curbs - see picture attached. Certain curbs, however, still incur clamping fine, despite not being an obstruction. This is another example of the inconsistencies of the administration.

Perhaps with the change in government, proactive measures will be taken to rectify the situation. Enough lip service and polite answers - we want real action.