Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has announced a four-week plan to fix the nationwide breakdown in Ghana’s electronic healthcare management system.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, October 29, Mr. Akandoh revealed that a new digital platform, the Ghana Healthcare Information Management System, has been procured to replace the malfunctioning one managed by Lightwave Health Information Management System Limited.
He said the migration to the new system will be done in phases: teaching and regional hospitals in week one, district hospitals in week two, and clinics, health centers, and CHPS compounds in weeks three and four.
“The medical records of Ghanaians would never go back to the manual way. We are moving forward responsibly, confidently, and decisively,” he declared.
The system breakdown has caused long delays in hospitals, especially in the Ashanti Region, where many facilities reverted to manual operations.
Mr. Akandoh blamed Lightwave for the disruption, revealing that the company was awarded a $100 million contract in 2019 to connect 950 health facilities, but only 450 were linked by the 2022 deadline. The contract was extended to December 2024, yet the project remained incomplete.
A forensic audit also showed major gaps in the system’s performance and hardware delivery.
He said the government has since taken steps to assume full control of the infrastructure, which was previously hosted on cloud servers in India.
“The government is committed to restoring and strengthening the country’s digital health infrastructure,” the Minister assured, emphasizing that future digital projects will be managed with greater transparency and accountability.
