Optimal locations of emergency medical tents for pandemic preparedness in Quezon City using facility location models

• Main Authors: Garganza, Lei Di Baroness Tuminez, Fuentebella, Joaquin Miguel Lilam
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Health facilities > Philippines > Quezon City; Pandemics; Mathematics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_math/8; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=etdb_math
• Institution: De La Salle University

The outbreak of COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is a global pandemic which caused serious implications for hospitals. Hospitals are now struggling to cope with the demand for care. In this paper, we have shown how facility location models can be used to identify optimal locations for Emergency Medical Tents (EMT) which can help hospitals in dealing with the high demand for healthcare during the pandemic. We have used two different facility location models: the Maximal Coverage Location Problem (MCLP) and the Set Covering Location Problem (SCLP). The MCLP model maximizes demand covered with a limited number of facilities, while the SCLP model ensures full coverage with a minimum number of facilities. The National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest accumulated COVID-19 cases in the Philippines. Among these cities, Quezon City has the highest population density which is the reason for being the focus of this study.