Application of TOPSIS method in field hospital foundation site selection: A location analysis in Bilecik

Disasters are events that occur suddenly or develop over time and can cause material, physical, economic and sociological damage when they occur, and deeply affect human life and the environment. Many of the casualties in disasters occur due to the lack of adequate health services and humanitarian support after the disaster. For this reason, it is of great importance to plan the activities to be carried out in the event of a possible disaster before the disaster in accordance with integrated disaster management. It is very important to plan in advance the installation locations, capacity, planning and organization of field hospitals established to ensure emergency medical support and continuity of health services to disaster victims after the disaster. Bilecik province is indicated as the province that will provide support in the event of a possible disaster due to the fact that it is under the influence of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) and Eskişehir-Bursa Fault Zone (BEFZ) and is neighboring the provinces of Bursa, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Kütahya and Sakarya according to the Turkey Disaster Response Plan (2022). In this respect, in the event of a possible disaster that may develop in Bilecik province and its surroundings, in case the existing hospitals are demolished, lose their functionality or cannot meet the patient capacity, the location of the field hospitals is important in order to continue the service provision both in the province and in the surrounding provinces. In this context; in the study conducted to determine the location of the field hospital to be established in Bilecik province in the event of a possible disaster, the AHP and TOPSIS methods within the Multi-Criteria Decision Methods (MCDM) were applied separately to find the highest priority alternative among 4 different locations and 3 different field hospital models located in the city center of Bilecik. In the study, the criteria of proximity to main roads, distance to logistics warehouses, distance to health institutions, area size, flood risk, distance to fault lines, number of tents, number of patients and number of patients to be treated in support units were used. After the TOPSIS and AHP analyses, the results for alternative locations were analyzed and interpreted. As a result of TOPSIS analysis, Şeyh Edebali Stadium (L5) field hospital ranked 1st with Model 2, while as a result of AHP analysis, Şeyh Edebali Stadium (L1) ranked 1st with Model 1.