SANDAKAN: Chronic parking shortages at the Duchess of Kent Hospital (HDOK) are putting patients and families under growing strain, with some forced to wait for hours or park far away and use e-hailing rides just to reach the facility.
Parti Warisan’s Pekan Sandakan branch chief Stanley Tan Vui Chung said the congestion has reached a critical point, especially for long-term patients who require regular treatment such as dialysis or cancer care.
“Some families have no choice but to drop off their sick relatives at the hospital entrance and then drive around looking for parking, sometimes so far away they end up taking a ride-hailing service back to the hospital,” he said on Wednesday (July 2) after visiting the hospital following a surge of public complaints.
He said in one case, a man from Beluran dropped off a cancer patient and waited in the car for over an hour, hoping for a spot to open up, but none did.
“This is no longer just a parking issue, it’s a failure in basic healthcare infrastructure,” he said in a statement.
With only about 300 parking bays currently available, the hospital has long been unable to cope with demand.
As the only government hospital in Sandakan, and with no private hospital in the region, HDOK also offers the widest range of specialist services, making it the main referral centre for serious and complex cases across the east coast of Sabah.
In addition to Sandakan’s population of around 400,000, the hospital receives patients from nearby districts such as Beluran (about 100km away), Kinabatangan (130km), Telupid (120km) and Tongod (over 170km), compounding the pressure on its overstretched facilities.
Tan reminded the public of a 2019 by-election pledge made by then finance minister Lim Guan Eng, who promised funding for a multi-storey parking complex at HDOK.
The pledge drew criticism from electoral watchdog Bersih, which questioned if it amounted to vote-buying after the billboard carrying the promise was reportedly removed by the Election Commission.
“Five years have passed. That promise has vanished, and people are fed up. We cannot keep treating the people of Sandakan like they are invisible,” Tan said.
He urged both federal and state governments to deliver on their responsibilities to the people.
“Don’t wait until the next election to make the same empty promise again. Our patients deserve dignity and access, not daily stress and hardship,” he said.
Despite a 2021 announcement of 110 additional parking bays being added around the hospital, it remains unclear whether the project was completed or has had any real impact.
