For a three-hour stay, parking now costs €9 for patients and visitors. Several people have complained to the ULC.

The statement reads:

“It is shocking how they enrich themselves in this way at the cost of patients and visitors. Sick people or their relatives, who have to be there for their kids for a longer stay, are ripped off every day with parking fees of €21 or more. Other people, who need emergency services, also know what they have to pay if they have longer waiting times. And these waiting times are clearly getting longer.”

The consumers’ union states that these fees can in no way be justified, whether the operators are private or run by the hospitals themselves.

It demands a lowering of the parking fees, the introduction of free parking for certain cases of illness, and demands the state to offer more support on this matter.

Hospitals react

Hospitals Robert Schuman have reacted to the accusations in a statement on RTL, saying that public transport was available to get to the hospital. But because many hospitals were close to town centres, the real estate prices were high, and parking facilities did not get any financial support from the state. This means that they have to be financially viable, which was not that simple.

Together with the Mobilitéitszentral, they are working on making hospitals more accessible by public transport. They were developing a “kiss & care” concept, and a car-sharing system.