An optimisation and simulation hybrid approach for maternal healthcare facility location-allocation in the Indian context

Abstract

This paper addresses availability and accessibility issues related to maternal healthcare facilities, basic healthcare to neonatal services, prevailing in India. These issues are resolved on economic considerations in establishing and running healthcare facilities and the expenses on travel incurred by mothers-to-be (MTBs) in visiting them. This problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming model for determining optimal number and locations of the healthcare facilities within the specified geographical boundary. The formulation also decides optimal allocation of MTBs to these centres that are available within a reasonable distance. Service demand of MTBs was considered to be deterministic. In reality, the demand, being random, may be high to cause healthcare service quality negatively. Hybrid optimisation and simulation approach shows that the service quality deteriorates with the increase in demand variability or its mean value. This information is useful in deciding additional number of the service facilities to provide satisfactory service quality.