Haphazard parking of vehicles no longer plagues the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (GH).
The hospital has streamlined parking on its premises by earmarking dedicated spaces for two-wheelers and four-wheelers and issuing vehicle passes for staff and postgraduate students.
The arrangements were primarily aimed at facilitating smooth movement of ‘108’ ambulances and other emergency patients, dean V. Kanagasabai said. A committee with six doctors was formed to look into ways to regulate parking of vehicles.
“We have been working on this over the past three months. We have regulated parking keeping in mind the movement of ambulances and also enabling emergency movement in case of fire accidents and mass casualty. On an average, at least 50 ambulances come to the hospital every day. Most cases are road traffic accidents,” he said.
The council of the Madras Medical College (MMC) has resolved to follow the new parking system.
As per the new arrangements, professors and associate professors should park their cars in the basement of the twin tower blocks, while assistant professors and tutors must park behind the tower blocks. Parking space has been allotted in the MMC premises for postgraduate medical students.
Visitors should park their two-wheelers near the neurology block, while autos and taxis transporting patients could park near the MRI section behind the hospital.
No parking boards have been put up yet. Trained personnel have been deployed to check on haphazard parking of vehicles. The hospital has also initiated the process of issuing vehicle passes to its staff. “So far, we have issued 800 passes — for two-wheelers and cars — to professors, assistant professors, postgraduates and staff,” Dr. Kanagasabai said.
To strictly enforce the parking arrangements, the hospital had also imposed fine of Rs. 100 on staff including doctors, who parked their vehicles, in no-parking areas. A hospital official said they had purchased about 30 locks to use on vehicles found in no-parking areas.
