A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks

IntroductionAt the beginning of 2020, the novel coronavirus broke out as a sudden public health emergency worldwide, with the number of confirmed patients constantly rising, which brought huge pressure to the medical system. Many countries and regions have noticed the positive role of emergency medi...

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Main Authors: Shuai Li, Wenli Chen, Zheng Wu, Jiefang Tang, Jiangtao Jiu, Pengfei Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1504694/full
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author Shuai Li
Wenli Chen
Zheng Wu
Jiefang Tang
Jiangtao Jiu
Pengfei Wang
author_facet Shuai Li
Wenli Chen
Zheng Wu
Jiefang Tang
Jiangtao Jiu
Pengfei Wang
author_sort Shuai Li
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionAt the beginning of 2020, the novel coronavirus broke out as a sudden public health emergency worldwide, with the number of confirmed patients constantly rising, which brought huge pressure to the medical system. Many countries and regions have noticed the positive role of emergency medical facilities in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the analysis of the location and construction of emergency medical facilities for public health emergencies has practical significance.ObjectiveThis paper mainly discusses the use of urban suburban parks as the construction sites for emergency medical facilities and builds a maximum service quality level model for emergency medical facilities in response to public health emergencies.MethodConsidering the suddenness and unpredictability of public health emergencies, this study introduces polyhedral uncertainty sets to describe the uncertainty of the number of confirmed patients and transforms the model into an easily solvable mixed-integer programming model through the Bertsimas and Sim robust optimization method. The GAMS software is used for programming and the CPLEX solver is called to solve the model. Taking 13 urban suburban parks in Wuhan as an example, the optimal location plan and patient allocation of emergency medical facilities are determined, verifying the feasibility and effectiveness of the model.DiscussionThe results show that the model effectively promotes the determination of location plans and patient transfer routes. It is expected that in the event of a sudden public health emergency in a city, it can provide reference and basis for decision-makers to deal with public health emergencies.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2296-2565
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publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
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spelling doaj-art-bb8ab74ae429475ea8821052de3752af2025-08-20T03:42:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652025-03-011310.3389/fpubh.2025.15046941504694A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parksShuai Li0Wenli Chen1Zheng Wu2Jiefang Tang3Jiangtao Jiu4Pengfei Wang5College of Landscape Architecture and Art, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, ChinaCollege of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, ChinaIntroductionAt the beginning of 2020, the novel coronavirus broke out as a sudden public health emergency worldwide, with the number of confirmed patients constantly rising, which brought huge pressure to the medical system. Many countries and regions have noticed the positive role of emergency medical facilities in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the analysis of the location and construction of emergency medical facilities for public health emergencies has practical significance.ObjectiveThis paper mainly discusses the use of urban suburban parks as the construction sites for emergency medical facilities and builds a maximum service quality level model for emergency medical facilities in response to public health emergencies.MethodConsidering the suddenness and unpredictability of public health emergencies, this study introduces polyhedral uncertainty sets to describe the uncertainty of the number of confirmed patients and transforms the model into an easily solvable mixed-integer programming model through the Bertsimas and Sim robust optimization method. The GAMS software is used for programming and the CPLEX solver is called to solve the model. Taking 13 urban suburban parks in Wuhan as an example, the optimal location plan and patient allocation of emergency medical facilities are determined, verifying the feasibility and effectiveness of the model.DiscussionThe results show that the model effectively promotes the determination of location plans and patient transfer routes. It is expected that in the event of a sudden public health emergency in a city, it can provide reference and basis for decision-makers to deal with public health emergencies.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1504694/fullurban green spacepublic healthemergency medical facilityrobust optimizationcountry parks
spellingShingle Shuai Li
Wenli Chen
Zheng Wu
Jiefang Tang
Jiangtao Jiu
Pengfei Wang
A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks
Frontiers in Public Health
urban green space
public health
emergency medical facility
robust optimization
country parks
title A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks
title_full A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks
title_fullStr A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks
title_full_unstemmed A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks
title_short A study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand—A case study of Wuhan country parks
title_sort study on the siting of emergency medical facilities under uncertain demand a case study of wuhan country parks
topic urban green space
public health
emergency medical facility
robust optimization
country parks
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1504694/full
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