The government will, over the next four weeks, roll out a new national Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system to address current challenges in data and software management in health facilities across the country, Minister of Health, Mr Kwabena Akandoh, has announced.
The move follows the expiration of the Ministry’s software management systems contract with Lightwave, the previous managers, at the end of December last year. The vendor reportedly refused to fulfill its contractual obligation to migrate all health facilities onto the system.
According to Mr Akandoh, speaking at Jubilee House in Accra yesterday, the newly established design framework includes a middleware system intended to facilitate a seamless transition, expected to incorporate more than 100 facilities within the first week. This includes teaching hospitals, regional hospitals, and high-density district hospitals.
He explained that weeks two and three would focus on the remaining district hospitals, while the fourth week would cover the other facilities to ensure a smooth rollout.
“We have already initiated stakeholder engagements with teaching hospitals, regional hospitals, and Regional Health Directors,” he said.
“Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are central to modern healthcare. We need to manage it responsibly. As the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) reminds us, health information is personal, private, and protected by law. Patient data is not a corporate asset but a public trust, to be protected and ethically managed. This is what is guiding our decisions and actions,” he added.
Mr Akandoh noted that upon assuming office, there was no valid contract between the Government of Ghana and Lightwave. He explained that the Ministry inherited a patient EMR system beset by multiple challenges.
In 2019, a contract was signed between the Government of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Health, and Lightwave, valued at $100 million, to establish an EMR system in 950 health facilities nationwide. By the end of 2022, however, the contract had not been fully executed, with 450 facilities yet to be connected. Consequently, the contract was extended twice—once at the end of 2022 and again at the end of 2023—before finally expiring at the end of 2024.
The Minister said that out of the total $100 million, $77 million had already been paid by the end of 2024, yet only 450 out of the 950 targeted health facilities had been connected, with significant gaps in both the quantity and quality of equipment provided. Hardware shortfalls were estimated at $18 million. Under Milestone 3, Lightwave was expected to extend the system to 157 additional facilities, but only seven were actually covered, despite payments of $10–11 million made for this milestone.
Mr Akandoh added that despite these findings, the government proposed signing a limited renewal contract to keep the system running while addressing the identified challenges. However, the vendor refused to grant access to the data and servers and insisted that the Ministry confirm 461 facilities as connected instead of the 450, and also refused to cede control of Ghana’s health data and servers.
BY LAWRWNCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
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