DA is unsatisfied with the lack of progress on Charlotte’s parking bays

Staff and patients continue to struggle with parking at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital despite promises that extra bays would be made available by November last year.

The DA Gauteng Shadow Health Minister MEC Jack Bloom visited the hospital on January 23 after receiving complaints about the parking.

“Doctors and nurses have to come in early to get the few open bays in the hospital basement, so most park far away at great inconvenience.”

He added it was worse for patients who were sick and have to walk long distances to get to the hospital.

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“I gave a lift to a 70-year-old who had to park more than a kilometre away and uses a walking stick. He drove from Eldorado Park to drop his wife off at the diabetes clinic,” he said.

Bloom suggested the empty province-owned Emoyeni Conference Centre nearby could be made available for parking.

“The best solution would be to use the empty parking areas above where the fire started [in the centre], and I saw hundreds of bays that should already be in use as a new ramp has been built that gives access to them.”

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In response, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital spokesperson Tabudi Madisha said the Emoyeni Conference Centre did not belong to the hospital or the Gauteng Department of Health.

“As for extra parking bays, the construction of the temporary access ramp to level P3 [of the hospital] is 100% complete,” she added.

Madisha said a traffic management system needed to be put in place to ensure a quicker flow of vehicles into the parking.
“The process is underway and the P3 parking bays will be available for usage soon.”

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