A Hybrid Model for Hospital Site Suitability in an Under‐Served District of West Bengal, India
Published online on August 03, 2026
Abstract
["Transactions in GIS, Volume 30, Issue 5, August 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nBirbhum, one of the under‐served districts of Eastern India, suffers immensely from limited healthcare accessibility and inadequate emergency obstetric care service coverage. The study aims to identify suitable sites for new hospitals using a hybrid geospatial and Multi‐Criteria Decision‐Making (MCDM) framework to address existing service coverage gaps. An integrated framework combining Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Multi‐Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT), and Entropy‐CRITIC based weighting techniques was employed. The findings indicated that the Entropy–MAUT approach demonstrated comparatively better spatial correspondence with existing hospital locations, as 24% of them fell within the highest suitable class, while a comparatively lower proportion (19%) fell within the low suitability class. In contrast, both AHP and CRITIC–MAUT approaches identified no hospitals in the highest suitability class. Notably, one‐third (33%) of hospitals were located outside all defined suitability classes across methods, indicating a marked mismatch between prevailing healthcare infrastructure and community needs. The results highlighed the critical role of accessibility and connectivity in optimal hospital site selection, as these factors determined how easily patients could avail themselves of facilities through the surrounding transport network.\n"]