| Abstrakt: |
Hospitals provide a variety of health care services and are therefore an important part of societal infrastructure. However, choosing an appropriate hospital location necessitates a thorough examination of several potential alternatives and approaches. Infrastructure, geo-environmental and social factors are the main criteria. We established a suitability model based on hybrid geographic information systems (GIS) based on multi-criteria decision-making (GIS-MCDM) and used it to determine suitable locations for constructing new hospitals. As a pilot study, the proposed model aimed at enhancing spatial accessibility to healthcare in an underprivileged region in the Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The study region's few hospitals and health centres are compounded by Poonch's rapidly rising population, requiring new healthcare infrastructure like hospitals. We screened potential locations for a new hospital using a map with a set of variables, including population density, networks and the location of existing healthcare facilities together with the presence of rivers, slope, elevation and land use leading to a suitability index ranging from low to high. The technical approach used assisted the finding of a highly suitable area (rank 1) covering about 9.4% of the study area, with a majority of potential new hospital locations in the southern and mid-eastern parts. The study outcome should help regional planners and health-care policymakers decide on a hospital location leading to well-distributed resources and reduction of geographical inequities with regard to healthcare access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
Full text from SpringerLink