The Left Block is concerned about the intention of the administration of the Hospital Center of the Barlavento Algarvio to start charging for parking.
The Hospital de Portimão, which has around 1200 parking spaces, recently opened a public tender with a view to granting the concession to operate the car parks. The rent to be charged by the hospital to the entity that will win the competition will be 2500 euros per month.
In the application that Left Bloc deputy João Semedo addressed to the Ministry of Health, it states that employees "will be exempt from payment and there will be tolerance for taxis", but "all other people who need to park will have to pay, not knowing still the values to be practiced».
BE considers this decision to create paid parking as a «commodification of parking in the spaces of the National Health Service, which ends up working as a source of funding for public and private entities, at the expense of illness and the urgency of the patients».
“In fact, when someone feels in need of medical care, they go to the institution that seems most suitable for the means at their disposal. Whether due to geographic, hourly or personal contingencies, the transport used is often the car», stresses João Semedo.
"It is not acceptable for public health institutions to take advantage of this moment of people's fragility, forcing them to pay for the parking of the vehicle that transported them to the hospital, which is often the only form of transport they have", he adds. the Blocist deputy.
On the other hand, "the prices charged in parking tend to assume exorbitant values, as has already been seen in other hospitals in the country", he stresses.
Thus, the Left Block considers it essential that the Government "clarifies its position regarding the obligation to pay for parking in hospitals in the NHS network and that it imposes measures to take care of the needs of people who travel to hospitals in emergency situations, even more so when the Ombudsman has already ruled negatively on the exorbitant prices charged for hospital parking».
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