Covid-19 in Ecuador: Radiography of Hospital Distribution Using Data Science

Abstract

Exploring the behavior and impact that the Covid-19 pandemic is causing on the supply of hospital services in the main cities of Ecuador is the urgent aspiration of national and local authorities and society in general. Therefore, this work evaluates the distribution and area of influence of hospitals suitable for care of critically ill patients. For the study, advanced computational techniques were used, the data were obtained from Open Street Maps OSM and the Ministry of Public Health. In this work, it is possible to chain the process of extraction of statistical data of fatality product of Covid-19, the geolocation and distribution of the Health Centers (HC) of Quito, Guayaquiñl and Cuenca. Then, based on this information, it is verified how the hospital supply capacity and the balanced distribution of HC affect the number of deaths caused by the pandemic. Concluding that Guayaquil has the highest number of deaths and has the lowest rate of HC and a more unequal distribution; on the other hand, Cuenca has the lowest number of deaths and the highest HC rate with a more balanced distribution of HC.