The selection of hospital sites and adaptive medical resource planning in the post-COVID era: navigating public health crises in China?

Abstract

Urban management and planning during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are critical. This article examines hospital site selection in Yinzhou, Ningbo, China, using geographical data analysis. It evaluates travel costs and referral patterns between hospitals and community health facilities to establish a sustainable hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system. The results reveal that existing medical facilities, particularly in rural areas, are inadequate during public health emergencies. The article proposes considering total transportation costs in allocating the sites of new hospitals and suggests adopting a ‘permanent + temporary’ facility planning approach to ease financial burdens. Addressing these issues can mitigate the inequitable distribution of urban and rural medical resources. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .