Optimization of Ambulance Deployment for Emergency Medical Services in Kogi State

Emergency medical response systems in Nigerian states outside the major metropolitan centres are severely underfunded and poorly optimized, with ambulance deployment governed largely by administrative convention rather than analytical demand modelling. This study applies the maximal covering location problem (MCLP) framework to determine the optimal spatial deployment of ambulances for emergency medical services in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria. Emergency call data from the State Emergency Medical Service over a 24-month period are used to estimate demand intensity at the local government area level. A binary integer programming model is formulated to maximize the population covered within an 8-minute response time standard, subject to a constraint on the number of available ambulances. The model is solved using the branch-and-bound method for fleet sizes ranging from 5 to 15 ambulances. Results indicate that a fleet of nine strategically deployed ambulances can cover 78 percent of the state's population within the response standard, compared to the current coverage of 52 percent with 11 ambulances deployed according to the existing non-optimized arrangement. Deploying fewer ambulances more intelligently outperforms the current arrangement due to the elimination of coverage duplication. Recommendations include immediately redeploying the existing fleet according to the MCLP solution and including ambulance location optimization in the annual emergency management plan. This research presents a direct contribution to life-saving emergency service improvements in Nigeria's North Central zone. Keywords: ambulance deployment, maximal covering location, emergency medical services, Kogi State, binary integer programming