Muscat – Despite the Ministry of Health’s efforts over the years to build new infrastructure and increase the number of parking spaces in hospitals, some hospitals in the city urgently need to enhance public car park facilities within their premises.

“Hospitals such as The Royal hospital and Khoula Hospital continue to witness traffic jams in the parking area every day even after the ministry increased the parking spaces and built multi-storey parking facilities,” Sultan al Rawahi, a resident of Seeb, told Muscat Daily.

Pointing out public carelessness, he said, “Some people park their cars in undesignated areas, especially in The Royal Hospital. This is a violation of traffic rules and results in traffic jams. Such people are fined from time to time by the ROP.”

Rawahi hopes the ministry builds more multi-level car parks in government hospitals, besides a new hospital in the wilayat of Seeb. “It is, after all, one of the biggest wilayats in the sultanate in terms of population.”

Badr al Riyami, a visitor to Khoula Hospital, noted that the ministry has indeed increased the number of parking spots in the hospital “but the problem is that people prefer to park closest to the hospital, maybe because of the heat or being late for appointments”.

He urged the ministry to consider building shaded car parks and providing a facility to transport patients from the parking lots that are far away from the hospital entrance.

According to Marhoon al Saidi, a private sector employee, parking space in public hospitals is insufficient, which forces some visitors to park in undesignated areas. “We need to build modern hospitals that keep pace with needs,” said Saidi.

In March this year, Khoula Hospital got 281 more parking spaces. This was provided in cooperation with Muscat Municipality and the Ministry of Health. ‘With this, the total number of parking spots in the hospital increased to 899. The project was implemented for the convenience of hospital visitors who struggled to find parking spots, reduce frequent congestion near the hospital and prevent random parking of vehicles,’ stated the municipality.

In July 2021, The Royal Hospital started a service to transport patients from its car parks to the hospital buildings during working hours.