Ostrava opens 300-million-crown hospital car park — but patients still can't use it

A new multi-storey car park worth around 300 million crowns has opened at the University Hospital in Ostrava-Poruba. Contrary to residents' hopes, however, it will for now be accessible only to hospital staff and ambulances.

Many people in Ostrava reacted with disappointment, having expected the new car park to finally ease their long-standing parking troubles near the hospital. "I even told my friend we'd finally get to try out the hospital's new car park. It was badly needed, because parking there is simply a disaster. And now it turns out it isn't meant for us — the patients and visitors," said Dagmar Klečková, a retiree from Ostrava. The news has sparked plenty of frustrated discussion on social media.

According to hospital management, at this stage the car park is reserved solely for staff vehicles and serves as a new base for ambulances. However, administrators say spaces for patients and visitors will eventually be added — once the facility reaches full operational capacity, which will take some time.

The main purpose of the new facility is to free up outdoor parking spaces around the hospital complex and on the neighbouring streets of the Poruba district, which are currently overrun with staff cars. Once employees move their vehicles into the new car park, the vacated spots are set to be handed over to patients.

"Staff cars will vacate the spaces right next to the hospital buildings and move into the new car park. This will free up 367 parking spaces in the so-called blue zone, reserved exclusively for patients and their companions. A further 52 spaces are reserved for people with disabilities, and 9 for vehicles fitted for wheelchair users," explained hospital spokeswoman Petra Petlachová.

"We wanted to accommodate our patients' wishes — people who, often because of health issues, need to park as close as possible to the building they're visiting. That's why the blue zone includes large parking areas on both sides of the main entrance, as well as spaces near the oncology clinic, the infectious diseases clinic, the pharmacy and several other locations," added Daniel Najvert, head of the hospital's internal security and crisis management department.

"As of Thursday, so-called blue zones for patients — which didn't exist here before — have come into operation on the hospital grounds," said hospital director Jiří Havrlant. He noted that the facility is dealing with a steadily growing number of cars on its premises.

"We get about three thousand cars here every day. Entry and exit from the car park will run directly from Doktora Slabihoudka Street, which should help make traffic within the hospital grounds calmer," the director concluded.

Thanks to the new car park, the hospital's total parking capacity has risen to 1,650 spaces.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz