Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister for Health, has assured Ghanaians of the government rolling-out a new state-owned digital health platform known as the Ghana Health Information Management System (GHIMS). This initiative will replace the suspended Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS).
In a media engagement on the Government Accountability Programme held on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, in Accra. The Health Minister disclosed that the Ministry’s decision followed extensive forensic and technical audits, which uncovered serious contractual, technical, and data management breaches under the previous LHIMS arrangement.
According to findings presented by the Ministry’s consultants, the $100 million LHIMS contract was awarded in 2019 to connect 950 health facilities. The project was expected to be completed by 2022 but was extended twice after the contractor failed to meet key milestones. By the final expiry in December 2024, only 450 of the 950 facilities had been connected – less than 50 percent completion – although the vendor had been paid over $77 million, which represent more than 70 percent of the total contract value.
The Minister further stated that the vendor’s refusal to hand over administrative access and Ghana’s health data to the state resulted in repeated service disruptions and data blackouts, a situation he described as “pure blackmail.”
As a way of addressing these lapses and ensure continuity of healthcare delivery, the Ministry has developed and deployed GHIMS — the Ghana Health Information Management System — built entirely under state ownership and management, the Health Minister emphasized.
According to Hon. Mintah Akandoh, the new system introduces a National Health Information Exchange — a more secure integration layer that ensures no single vendor can monopolize Ghana’s health data again. The exchange allows various digital health service providers to connect under strict regulatory supervision, he emphasized.
Hon. Mintah Akandoh also indicated that GHIMS integrates seamlessly with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) database, allowing real-time access to patient records nationwide. This means a patient registered in Tamale can receive care in every part of the country without going through any re-registration process.
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