Research Master Pre-Defense
Capacity Allocation to Optimize Healthcare Accessibility in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
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SpeakersThu Trang Luu , Thu Trang Luu
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LocationTinbergen - 1.02
Amsterdam
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Date and time
July 10, 2025
14:00 - 15:00
trokes are the leading cause of mortality and long-term disability, especially in low- and middle-income countries where access to specialized treatment remains limited. This thesis investigates how to optimally allocate stroke unit beds across hospitals in a regional healthcare system, with the goal of minimizing patient waiting times and maximizing the probability of receiving treatment within the golden hour. We formulate the problem as a discrete resource allocation model with queueing-based performance metrics, leveraging the convexity properties of the Erlang delay formula and service models to derive an efficient marginal allocation algorithm. Using real population and travel time data from Vietnam, we show that our method produces allocations that achieve outstanding performance under both expected waiting time and golden hour probability criteria. Furthermore, we extend our analysis to queues with general (Erlang) service times using matrix-geometric methods and discuss the challenges in evaluating and optimizing performance under more complex service distributions. Our results demonstrate the value of integrating operations research with public health planning and provide a tractable yet flexible framework for designing equitable and efficient stroke care systems.