The Spatial Accessibility Analysis Of Rural Medical Resource

China is under going the reform of rural healthcare system.The key is the implementation of the New Rural Cooperatives Medical Service System and the construction of the three-level medial service system.As a public utility,the healthcare reform and planning should not only resovle the present difficult medical problems in healthcare,but also to balance the efficiency of facility utilization and the equality of resource allocation.The paper aims to explore the spatial equality and long term planning of medical resource in rural areas using GIS,spatial accessibility analysis and Huff model.In this paper,the hospitals of township level or above at Yuanhui district in LuoHe,Henan Province as an example,the Yuanhui district geographic database for distribution-medical resources is established by field research and data collection.First,the geospatial database is built by collecting all the relevant reliable data.Second,spatial accessibility indices,i.e.medical facilities per capita,the distance of getting the nearest medical service,hospitals'attractions,are calculated to evaluate the spatial accessibility of the medical facilities in 129 villages,Yuanhui district in LuoHe.Third,considering each hospital's location,capability and potential population serviced,Huff model is developed and calibrated to estimate the relationship between hospitals and settlements.Huff model results provide a basis for local medical planning,resources allocation and reallocation of some hospitals.Forth,all the indicators derived from accessibility models and Huff model and mapped,compared and explained carefully.Especially,the locations with insufficient or unqualified medical facilities are analyzed critically according to site investigation.GIS technologies fully depend upon the spatial analysis and modeling.All the geospatial data are prepared and managed in ArcGIS 9.0.The matrix of shortest traffic distance between hospitals and villages is created in VBA by ArcObjects programming.The distance matrix lays a foundation of accessibility analysis and Huff model estimation.Revealed by this study.First,there is evident medical facility inequity in rural areas in terms for the distribution of medical resource per capita,opportunity for accessing medical services and the convenience of utilizing medical services.Second,the indices of spatial accessibility can facilitate straight forward evaluation of the medical services,the convenience for visiting hospitals and the locations with insufficient or unqualified medical facilities are analyzed critically according to site investigation.Third,Huff model can simulate the flow of residents' patronage of hospitals,and calculate the potential population in service regions.So it conveniently indicates the efficiency of the use of medical resources and the problems.To address issues brought up,the authors propose the following:the redistribution of medical resources planning is to consider the timely treatment of sick peasants,but also the transition to avoid wasting of medical resources.It is necessary to establish a city,township and village three-tier system of medical security chapter,but also village-level clinics and private hospitals and the interests of survival.Be sure of information symmetric,and the medical resources efficiency maximization.