An L-Shaped Method to Solve a Stochastic Blood Supply Chain Network Design Problem in a Natural Disaster

The level of blood and blood products in the human body is very important. Lack of blood and its products in a body can have a deadly effect on health. Due to the explanation, managing the supply of blood and blood products is a critical issue in the healthcare system, especially when the system is faced with high demand for the product. In natural disasters, demand for blood units increases sharply because of injuries. Hence, efficiency in blood supply chain management plays a significant role in this situation in supplying blood for transfusion centers and hospitals. It is vital to supply at in right time to prevent casualties. The present paper proposes an optimization model for designing a blood supply chain network in case of an earthquake disaster. The proposed two-stage stochastic model is programmed based on scenarios for an earthquake in a populated mega-city. The designed network has three layers; the first layer is donation areas, the second layer consists of distribution centers and facilities, and the last layer is transfusion centers. In the present study, a two-stage stochastic optimization model based on real scenarios is proposed. Decisions of locating permanent collection facilities and the amount of each blood type pre-inventory are made in the first stage, and operation decisions that have dependent on possible scenarios are made in the second stage. The model also considers the possibility of blood transfusion between different blood groups and its convertibility to blood derivatives regarding medical requirements. In order to solve the proposed two-stage stochastic model, an L-shaped algorithm, an efficient algorithm to solve scenario-based stochastic models, has been used. In addition, the application of the model and the algorithm tests with real data of likely earthquakes in the Tehran mega-city (the densest city of Iran).