Mobile clinics: medical service strategy for disaster healthcare response operation

Abstract

Purpose:Healthcare facilities disrupted due to disasters leave affected communities without access tosufficient health care. This study proposes the use of mobile health clinics (MHCs) to address the issuesfaced by medical service providers during disaster response.Design/methodology/approach:An MHC is a mobile facility that provides healthcare services from astationary location. The model was developed as a healthcare response strategy that considers demanduncertainties due to the nature of the disaster. Therefore, the objective of this study is to generate anMHC route and schedule simultaneously and determine how each MHC meets patient demands within aprespecified time horizon. A stochastic model is presented because the impact of a disaster variesaccording to its scale.Findings:An investigation of medical shelters in locations with high numbers of displaced people andthe routing of mobile clinics for several facility locations with a small number of people showed that ahybrid strategy comprising a medical shelter and MHC is the best option. MHCs can serve many locationswithin walking distance. They can also be routed to other locations when time constraints allow. When alarge number of people are in a shelter, building a medical facility provides better service.Originality/value:This study proposed MHCs as a medical service strategy to address the challengesfaced by communities during disaster responses. The aim of MHCs is to improve communities’ access tohealthcare services