The healthcare sector is facing what many medical professionals describe as a “silent national crisis” following the termination of the country’s elec
The healthcare sector is facing what many medical professionals describe as a “silent national crisis” following the termination of the country’s electronic health management contract with Lightwave E-Healthcare Solutions Ltd — the company that developed and operated the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS).
Across major hospitals, including the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Health officials have raised alarm that patient records accumulated over years have become inaccessible, forcing medical staff to return to handwritten notes and paper files.
The situation, according to several healthcare workers, is not only frustrating but also endangers patient safety and continuity of care.
Elliot Koranteng Tannor, a Senior Lecturer, Nephrologist, and Kidnev health advocate at KATH took to social media to express the growing frustration among medical practitioners:
“If you need a medical report, sorry I won’t be able to write it for you because I do not have your records — even if I have been seeing you for over four years in KATH. This is a national health crisis, but we are too quiet as a country!”
The post, which has since gone viral, has drawn public concern over the government’s management of the transition from the old LHIMS system to the newly introduced Ghana Health Information Management System (GHIMS) under the Ministry of Health.
From LHIMS To GHIMS — A Troubled Transition
The LHIMS platform was introduced in 2016 under the Mahama administration to digitize Ghana’s healthcare system by linking patient records across hospitals and regional health centers.
It was implemented by the Ghanaian-owned Lightwave E-Healthcare Solutions Ltd and, by 2024, had been deployed in nearly 500 facilities nationwide, including all teaching and regional hospitals.
For years, LHIMS was hailed as one of the most ambitious digital health projects in West Africa — streamlining medical records, improving coordination, and ensuring doctors could access patient data from any facility in the country.
However, the system’s future became uncertain after the contract officially expired on December 31, 2024.
Negotiations for renewal stalled under the new NDC government, which later opted to discontinue Lightwave’s services entirely and replace LHIMS with a new platform, GHIMS.
Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has defended the decision, insisting that GHIMS will provide “a more efficient, modernized, and nationally controlled” system.
The new platform was launched in October 2025 at the Tamale Teaching Hospital as part of a nationwide rollout plan.
But the transition has not been smooth. With no proper handover or data migration plan in place, hospitals using the old LHIMS platform have found themselves locked out of vital patient databases.
Doctors Without Data
At KATH and other major referral facilities, the sudden system shutdown has forced doctors and nurses to record patient information manually — using loose sheets of paper and exercise books.
“For the past few weeks, we’ve been writing patient notes on sheets of paper in the clinic and in exercise books on the wards,” Elliott Koranteng stated.
“If you see the patient next week, it’s on another sheet — no continuity of care! Very dangerous.”
The problem, doctors say, becomes worse during patient follow-ups. “After discharging a patient you managed for over three weeks, he comes back for review, and you have no idea what you treated him for or the medications you discharged him on. How do you proceed?” he lamented.
Healthcare workers warn that the situation undermines years of progress made in digitizing the health sector, compromises clinical decision-making, and exposes patients to the risk of misdiagnosis and medication errors.
Mounting Public And Professional Concern
Civil society groups, patient advocates, and sections of the medical community have called for urgent intervention to restore access to health data.
Many argue that the government’s decision to terminate the Lightwave contract without ensuring a secure transition has left the country’s health system in disarray.
Health policy analysts have also questioned the timing and handling of the changeover.
“Digital health transitions are complex and must be managed carefully,” one analyst noted. “You can’t simply switch off one national system and expect another to function overnight. Lives literally depend on data continuity.”
While the Ministry insists that GHIMS will soon stabilize, many frontline health workers remain skeptical.
With thousands of patient records now inaccessible and hospitals reverting to paper files, the promise of digital transformation — once seen as a hallmark of progress — is now overshadowed by operational paralysis.
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