Accessibility of Medical Facilities in Multiple Traffic Modes: A Study in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

One of the major contradictions in China's healthcare service is the serious imbalance between the supply and demand of medical resources and the uneven distribution of medical resources. Although the government intended to provide equal access for all, in the final evaluation, fairness of the distribution of services was usually dictated by location. Measuring and predicting access to social services can help to adjust and better accommodate underserved regions. 3SFCA modes based on the Gaussian function are proposed to delineate the service area of providers delivering social services and produce a probability metric that maps the equity of the medical services in multiple traffic modes. We identified the types of medical shortage areas and analyzed the distribution characteristics of medical accessibility in Guangzhou. The results showed that the accessibility of medical facilities in the multiple traffic modes varied greatly. The accessibility level of medical service resources was the highest in the driving mode, followed by the public traffic mode and bike-riding mode. The walking mode had the lowest accessibility. Finally, the paper provided advice for further improvement of the equal distribution of medical service resources in Guangzhou.