“Every minute of your delay costs me money,” a patient grumbles, brandishing a parking ticket.

“I am sorry,” I sympathise. “Let’s finish up as quickly as we can.”

What I don’t say is that I am running late because of my last patient, who is as disadvantaged as they come. Catching public transport would involve a train, a bus and a walk she can’t manage.

So, having driven 90 minutes on a jam-packed freeway and conscious of the fuel cost, she had been circling the area for free parking.

As usual, such parking was elusive, and by the time she found it, she was a 15-minute walk from the hospital entrance, from which it took another 10 minutes to reach my clinic.

Thus, her free parking had come at the cost of my time, but given the frequency of her visits, how could I blame her?

Feeling chastised, I later stopped by the parking payment machine to check out the rates.

The first 15 minutes are free, and the first hour thereafter is $11. But no one would bank on concluding any hospital visit within an hour from the time of parking, nudging the effective minimum fee to $21 for 2 hours. The daily and weekly “repeat” fees (allowing unlimited entry) are $32 and $72, respectively.

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It’s hardly consoling knowing that other hospitals charge as much as $60 a day and $110 for a weekly pass.

Then, I came upon a doctor reasoning with security that if there was an automatic parking deduction from his salary, then he........

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