Abstract
Optimum utilization of time after an accident which is golden hour serves as a measure of effectiveness of ambulance service management system to reduce the loss of life and property. This paper presents a case study on Arada sub-city which is the oldest of all sub-cities located in the central part of the capital Addis Ababa with 11.56 Km<sup>2</sup> area wide. Its population, which is around 212,009, is highly dense and its spread of population density is about 18340 people per Km<sup>2</sup>. In the study area, the existing road network condition is not developing in line with the population growth. Accordingly, at time of disaster, the responsiveness rate of efficient ambulance transportation services to the right target area is low and unsatisfactory to level of customer’s satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to conduct road network analysis in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment for the betterment of ambulance transportation service in the sub city. A detail GIS database of the road network, ambulance location, accident locations and hospitals was prepared using Arc GIS software with the extension of network analyst. In this study, one ambulance station, three accident locations and six hospitals were used to compute 1, 2 & 4 minutes service area and best route analyses. The impedance value 1, 2 & 4 minute corresponds to very urgent, moderate urgent and low urgent service areas respectively. In very urgent service area domain about 33% of health centres are found whereas in moderate and low urgent service area domains about 65% and 100% of health centers are found respectively. This implies that, the current option increases health center service area domains by 34% from the existing approach. Besides, the selected sample best routes of ambulance transportation service are computed in terms of travelling time in minutes and its fuel consumption in litters. Accordingly, the estimated travelling time of the selected sample best route is about 870/30482.20 and 1138.5/3772.16 minutes/ birrs annually. This implies that, the proposed study decreases a total travelling duration and cost by 268.5/723.96 minutes/ birr from the existing one. As a result, GIS-based ambulance transportation service proto type model was developed.
Highlights
Ambulance transportation service seems quite simple but in actual circumstance it is quite difficult during peak hours to save valuable human life when an accident occurs on the road network [1]
It is difficult to analyze problems faced by the ambulance transportation service on the road network without Geographic Information System (GIS)
GIS plays an important role in decision making process of ambulance transportation service in Arada sub city to be easier, accurate and time effective
Summary
Ambulance transportation service seems quite simple but in actual circumstance it is quite difficult during peak hours to save valuable human life when an accident occurs on the road network [1]. According to World Health Organization (WHO) nearly 3,500 people die on the world's roads every day and tens of millions of people are injured or disabled every year due to inefficient ambulance transportation service [2]. More than 85% of these casualties occur in low and middle in-come countries. It imposes a huge economic burden on developing economies of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most countries including Ethiopia. One of very important factors in road accidents is medical time response. Recent studies indicate that improved medical response and associated technology are an important
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