Design of Blood Supply Chain and Application to Marmara Region in Turkey

Abstract

Blood transfusion is needed due to operations, diseases or accidents. Millions of people's health depends on the success of their blood transfusion. Planning and management is required to supply blood, test against diseases, produce blood products, store t hem and transport them to hospitals. A blood supply chain network design such as Blood Donation Centers (CBM), Regional Blood Centers (RBC), Destruction Centers (DM), and hospitals are addressed. To formulate the problem, the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) software was applied to the Mixed Integer Model. When the number of RBC in Marmara region decreased from 3 to 2, opening and transportation costs increased to $5.37 million. When the number of RBCs increased from 3 to 4, opening and transportation costs decreased to $3.94 million.