A bi-objective stochastic model for emergency medical services network design with backup services for disasters under disruptions: An earthquake case study

In the event of a disaster such as natural and human-made, high demand for medical supplies and a large number of injured people will emerge at the affected areas in a short time period. Rapid distribution of medical supplies and the speed of transferring injured to the hospital play an important role in assuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the emergency medical service (EMS). In this paper, a bi-objective stochastic optimization model is developed for location of transfer points and medical supplies distribution centers (MSDCs). When a disaster happens, resources are usually insufficient for all to be treated immediately. For this reason, determining the priority of injured treatments based on the severity of their condition is one the most important issue on EMS, called as triage system. Therefore, for approaching the model to the real world, triage system and failure probabilities of MSDCs and routes are considered. To enhance efficiency of services during such event, backup MSDCs are also utilized. Furthermore, the proposed bi-objective model is converted to a single-objective mixed-integer programming model applying the ε-constraint method. Finally, to show applicability of the model, a case study of earthquake disaster in an urban district in Iran is examined. The proposed model can help interdisciplinary agencies both to prepare and respond to disaster considering the disruption in an efficient manner.