Jamaica’s premier public medical facility, the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), has rolled out a revised parking fee collection system, replacing the old model that relied on untrained security personnel after facing sharp scrutiny from the national parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC). However, the temporary fix has sparked fresh backlash from patients and visitors, who report extended wait times and added stress in an already high-pressure healthcare environment. The ongoing debate over the parking program emerged during Tuesday’s regular PAC sitting, where legislators continued reviewing damning operational gaps flagged in the Auditor General’s official audit of UHWI’s management practices.
Acting Chief Executive Officer Eric Hosin confirmed to the committee that the prior security-led collection framework was scrapped immediately after PAC members first raised red flags during the panel’s April 14 deliberations. The controversy first ignited when committee members questioned whether UHWI maintained sufficient oversight controls to track cash parking revenue, warning that a lack of formal safeguards left the system vulnerable to unaccounted funds and potential mismanagement.
While lawmakers welcomed the removal of security guards from frontline fee collection, PAC Chairman Julian Robinson emphasized that the personnel change alone does not resolve core accountability concerns. “It is good that the security guard is no longer collecting it, but I also want to know that you have a system in place that whoever is collecting the money, you can verify that you are collecting 100 per cent of what you should be collecting,” Robinson pressed Hosin during the sitting.
In his response, Hosin outlined that UHWI is in the process of developing and deploying a fully automated parking management system that would enable far more accurate tracking of both vehicle access and revenue collection. Until that permanent solution is ready, the facility has implemented an interim setup that relies on UHWI’s existing trained cashier staff to process parking payments.
Under the new temporary process, security personnel stationed at the lot entrance issue a time-stamped entry ticket to each driver. Before exiting the facility, drivers must pay the applicable parking fee at any of the hospital’s active cashier stations, where cashiers cross-reference entry time with payment time to calculate the cost, per UHWI’s published rate card: fees range from 250 Jamaican dollars for one hour of parking up to 1,000 Jamaican dollars for a full day of access. After payment, cashiers issue an official receipt, which drivers then present to exit-lane security alongside their entry ticket to leave the lot.
Despite the transparency gains of the new model, dozens of visitors have taken to social media to complain about crippling delays and unnecessary friction. One parker, who spoke on record with the Jamaica Observer, shared that after visiting his stroke-affected grandmother at the hospital, he was forced to join a single long queue that mixed parking payers with patients waiting to settle medical bills, adding significant frustration to an already emotionally draining trip to the facility. Other echoed the complaint, noting that the merged lines create unnecessary wait times for people already navigating urgent or stressful medical situations.