Hospital site selection using fuzzy EDAS method: case study application for districts of İstanbul

Abstract

As the Covid-19 pandemic also proved, access to health care plays a crucial role in our lives. Public officials, managers and investors should consider many criteria such as public infrastructure, environment, accessibility and demand for selecting the most appropriate site for a new hospital. Thus, the hospital site selection problem is a critical multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. This paper is a case study for İstanbul where a recent MCDM methodology, the fuzzy Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) method, is applied to this problem for the first time. We used a comprehensive set of five main criteria and 17 sub-criteria found in the relevant literature regarding hospital site selection. These criteria were evaluated by three decision-makers to choose the hospital site from three districts. The recommendation of the fuzzy EDAS method was then compared to the outcome of a frequently used fuzzy MCDM method. The methods resulted in different site recommendations.