Abstract
We present a manpower allocation and vehicle routing problem (MAVRP), which is a real-life healthcare problem derived from the non-emergency ambulance transfer service in Hong Kong public hospitals. Both manpower and vehicles are critical resources for the hospitals in their daily operations. The service provider needs to make an effective schedule to dispatch drivers, assistants and ambulances to transport patients scattered in different locations. We formulate the MAVRP into a mathematical programming model and propose several variable neighborhood search (VNS) algorithms to solve it. We tested the VNS with steepest descent, first descent and a mixed of two descent strategies on the MAVRP instances. The computational results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the VNS algorithms. Moreover, we also conducted additional experiments to analyze the impact of the number of vehicles on the solutions of the MAVRP instances.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
