Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

A Critical Analysis of the Hospitalization Network for COVID-19 Patients in Bahia, Brazil in the First Wave of the Pandemic

Version 1 : Received: 8 February 2022 / Approved: 9 February 2022 / Online: 9 February 2022 (11:04:11 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Araujo, M.L.V.; Miranda, J.G.V.; Vasconcelos, R.N.; Cambui, E.C.B.; Rosário, R.S.; Macedo, M.C.F.; Bandeira, A.C.; Souza, M.S.P.L.; Silva, A.C.F.N.; Filho, A.S.N.; Murari, T.B.; Jorge, E.M.F.; Saba, H. A Critical Analysis of the COVID-19 Hospitalization Network in Countries with Limited Resources. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 3872. Araujo, M.L.V.; Miranda, J.G.V.; Vasconcelos, R.N.; Cambui, E.C.B.; Rosário, R.S.; Macedo, M.C.F.; Bandeira, A.C.; Souza, M.S.P.L.; Silva, A.C.F.N.; Filho, A.S.N.; Murari, T.B.; Jorge, E.M.F.; Saba, H. A Critical Analysis of the COVID-19 Hospitalization Network in Countries with Limited Resources. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 3872.

Abstract

To effectively combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government of Bahia, Brazil, has distributed intensive and non-intensive care units along the nine regions that divide the state of Bahia, such that COVID-19 patients could be easily hospitalized in health care units located at the same regions where they live. However, the observed hospitalizations networks for COVID-19 patients shows that a considerable number of COVID-19 patients had to travel beyond their region of residence to be hospitalized. Hence, this study indicates that the current distribution of health care units in Bahia, Brazil, is not sufficient to effectively reduce the distances traveled by COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. We believe that such unnecessary travels to distant hospitals may put the sick patients as well as healthy people involved in the transportation process in risk, further delaying the stabilization of the COVID-19 pandemic in each region of the state of Bahia.

Keywords

Government; Hospitalization; Pandemics; Public policy; Transportation.

Subject

Public Health and Healthcare, Public Health and Health Services

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