Mapping of pharmaceutical service facilities (pharmacy) based on geographic information in Surabaya

Background: The need for accessibility to health facilities, including pharmacies, hospitals, health centres, health clinics, and others, increases due to population growth in Indonesia. The approach to mapping the geographic location of health facilities needs to be used as a policy reference in determining the achievement of national health care coverage. Objective: This study aims to see the distribution of pharmacy locations in Surabaya and its relationship with the population and epidemiological parameters. Method: Geographic information of pharmacies in Surabaya was collected from a database provided by the Indonesian Ministry of Health. Population data in 2019, including the number of district residents in the Surabaya area, the number of hospitals and clinics, and the number of disease cases, were obtained from the Central Statistics Agency of Surabaya. Result: A total of 791 pharmacies are spread across 31 districts in the city of Surabaya. The ratio of pharmacies number to the population per district varies from 1:1426.7 to 1:49806.0. The number of pharmacies per district significantly correlates with the number of hospitals and clinics in each district of Surabaya (r = 0.784). Conclusion: The distribution of pharmaceutical service facilities (pharmacies) in Surabaya is still uneven and centralised, following hospitals and clinics distribution in each district.