The ongoing challenges with Ghana’s Electronic Healthcare Management System will be fully resolved within 4 week, Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has announced.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, October 29, Akandoh revealed a new platform — the Ghana Healthcare Information Management System (GHIMs) has been procured by the government to address the recent challenges which has led to reversal to cash-and-carry in many public health facilities across the country.
According to the Minister the recent disruption in the National Health Insurance Authority’s (NHIA) electronic hospital management system is due to contractual issues with Lightwave Health Information Management System Limited — the private company operating the platform.
Mr. Akandoh who briefed Parliament yesterday about the development gave timelines for the migration of all public health facilities onto the new platform.
“The plan going forward is that in the next one week, we are going to begin with the teaching hospitals, the regional hospitals, and the highly populated district hospitals — to roll them over onto the system.”
“In the second week, we’ll be looking at the rest of the district hospitals. And then in the third week, we’ll be looking at the clinics, the health centers, and the CHPS compounds.
“So, I am confidently announcing to the good people of this country that we have a four-week plan that will get us out of this mess,” He assured.
The system disruption has resulted in delays in record-management and patient processing, particularly in the Ashanti Region, where many hospitals have been compelled to revert to manual operations.
The Health Minister assured the public the new system which unlike the previous one will not have data of patients being hosted in a foreign country will address all the current challenges. According to him government remains committed to restoring and strengthening the nation’s digital health infrastructure.
“The medical records of Ghanaians would never go back to the manual way. We are moving forward — responsibly, confidently, and decisively,” he declared.
Contract and performance lapses
Explaining the cause of the system failure, Mr. Akandoh revealed that in 2019, the government signed a $100 million contract with Lightwave to connect 950 health facilities nationwide to a unified digital health records platform.
“At this point, I would want to share with you the facts, as we inherited them,” he said. “The contract sum was $100 million to connect 950 health facilities. The contract was supposed to expire in 2022.”
He explained that the project was poorly executed, prompting multiple extensions until December 31, 2024, but even after five years, the company had failed to deliver as agreed.
“At the end of the expiration, out of the 950 facilities, only 450 had been connected. Clearly, nobody needs to tell you that the company underperformed,” Mr. Akandoh remarked.
Audit findings and state takeover
The Minister further disclosed that upon assuming office, the government requested that Lightwave hand over control of the system and its infrastructure to the state, as required under the contract. However, complications arose because the system was hosted on a cloud infrastructure in India, limiting Ghana’s access and control.
“We invited the vendor, but the contract had expired, and therefore, they must hand over to the state,”
he explained. “To have access to the medical records of Ghanaians without the state taking control — without even having access to the service — was unacceptable.”
A forensic audit, according to Mr. Akandoh, revealed significant gaps in both the system’s functionality and the hardware supplied under the contract.
According to him, government will have full control of the data rather than in private hands as the previous contract oversaw and will in addition be hosted in the country. Akandoh further assured future digital health projects will be executed with greater transparency, oversight, and accountability
