Examining Bed Capacity and Travel Distance Relative to Population Demand in Cavite, Philippines:

Equitable hospital accessibility is a critical component of an effective and inclusive healthcare system. This study assessed the hospital accessibility of residents across the 15 municipalities and eight cities, comprising of 803 barangays in Cavite, Philippines. Two primary perspectives were analysed: (1) hospital bed to population ratios and (2) travel distance to the nearest hospital. Using hotspot analysis in RStudio, clusters of critically underserved areas with low bed-to-population ratios were identified. The Enhanced 2-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) created a more thorough assessment of accessibility scores for the 803 barangays by integrating hospital bed capacity, population demand, road-network travel distances, and distance-decay functions using QGIS. Spatial regression models revealed that higher bed-to-population ratios consistently enhanced accessibility, whereas travel distance showed an surprising positive relationship with accessibility in rural, low-density areas. This finding highlights the nuanced relationship among service availability, geographical proximity and competition for healthcare services. The study provides evidence to support the equitable distribution of hospital resources and targeted infrastructure development across the cities and municipalities in Cavite, Philippines.