MELBOURNE, VIC — There was outrage in Australia this week where an exhausted doctor reportedly left her hospital after four days of treating coronavirus patients, only to find a parking ticket on her vehicle.
Editor's note: the video in this story is from June, 19, 2020 and reports on doctors and the front lines of the fight against COVID-19
To make matters worse, officials in Melbourne initially said they would not retract the fine and the doctor would have to appeal it, reported 9News.
"I worked 56 hours over four days in helping look after some of our state’s sickest patients,” tweeted Dr. Katarina Arandjelovic with a photo of the $99 parking violation.
"We make sacrifices and turn up - day in, day out, to serve you," Dr. Arandjelovic wrote to city and state leaders.
"So I guess @cityofmelbourne and @SallyCapp_, slapping fines on our cars is one hell of a thank you."
The doctor said her issue wasn’t just with the fine but that police were targeting the area around the hospital to begin with.
"It is the doctors, nurses, orderlies, pharmacists, physios, technicians, cleaners, cooks, ward clerks," she wrote.
"So when you send a parking inspector to Parkville, know that it is these people you are targeting."
City officials have since revoked the fine and apologized, saying the doctor could obtain one of thousands of parking passes that have been given out to first line workers in the area.
The doctor acknowledged the parking passes existed, but she said they were all snatched up and ran out quickly, forcing some workers to park in the streets.
ABC News (Australia) reported the doctor's bike was stolen, outside the hospital, the day before the ticket was issued:
"Public transport is off-limits to prevent exposure to the virus, and transmission to colleagues and patients," she wrote in a series of posts directed at the City of Melbourne council.