A new multi-level car parking facility near the Women’s Hospital of the Hamad Medical Corporation has become operational, providing a much-needed service to visitors to the medical centre.
With more than a hundred parking lots at each of its five levels, the new facility can accommodate a large number of vehicles. The fifth level has space for the helicopter ambulance service.
To help visitors find vacant slots at each level, there is an indicator board with digital display at the entrance.
The vacant lots at a particular level as well as at other levels are also displayed digitally at each level.
With the opening of the new facility, it is expected that the parking woes of patients and visitors to Women’s Hospital will be considerably reduced.
The new facility can accommodate about 800 vehicles, it is learnt.
A source said the new centre was opened a week ago and the news has not spread because of the Eid holidays.
“There are about 160 parking lots or more on each floor,” the source said.  
“Different levels have different number of parking lots. Though it has been now open for a week or so, many people are not aware of the facility. You will find several lots lying vacant as many of the visitors to the hospital are not aware of the park,” the source said.
One of the visitors to the Women’s Hospital said: “I was just driving around looking for a parking place. Then I found a vehicle entering this new facility. Many more vehicles were going into the building and then I thought I might also try it. I was surprised to find such a large number of parking lots lying vacant inside.”
As of now, the parking is free.
There are no indications that the Hamad Medical Corporation has any plan to charge visitors for using the facility or reserve it for staff.
The Hamad General Hospital has one more multi-level car park, which can also house hundreds of cars, besides shaded parking at ground level spread over large areas.
But the demand for parking has been so huge that the available space always falls short and visitors and patients keep driving around, some times up to an hour, before they could find a place to leave their vehicles behind.
After making several rounds, some motorists could be seen leaving their cars at prohibited places, attracting fines imposed by the Traffic Department.