The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has announced the establishment of a new digital health platform, the Ghana Health Information Management System (GHIMS), aimed at overhauling the country’s national health data infrastructure.
The move comes in response to the recent shutdown of the NHIS system, which caused disruptions in hospitals nationwide, forcing some facilities to temporarily revert to cash-and-carry services.
Speaking on Wednesday, October 29, during the Government Accountability Series, the Minister explained that GHIMS will replace the malfunctioning Lightwave system implemented under the previous administration.
He emphasized that the new platform will be fully state-owned and introduce an exchange mechanism to prevent monopolization by any single vendor.
“The good news is that we have the solution. And the solution in finding the solutions, we have taken cognisance of the issues that have gotten us here. The issues we are resolving, the issues one was that the software didn’t belong to the state. And so, when we are going for any, it must be for the state. And so, today we have GHIMS. And the GHIMS is Ghana Health Information Management System, and not for any individual,” he stated.
The Health Minister further explained that the exchange system ensures that vendors cannot directly integrate with billing systems or other health sector platforms.
Currently, only 450 of the country’s 950 health facilities were connected under the previous system. GHIMS aims to expand connectivity to all remaining facilities and allow competitive participation from service providers.
According to Mr. Akandoh, GHIMS is expected to stabilize healthcare delivery, safeguard patient data, and ensure that NHIS cardholders can access services without interruption to prevent a repeat of the recent system failures that left many patients unable to access care.
