Dr. Ekua Amoakoh
Deputy spokesperson for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign, Dr Ekua Amoakoh, has criticised the Ministry of Health’s decision to replace the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) with the new Ghana Health Information Management System (GHIMS), describing the move as abrupt and potentially detrimental to Ghana’s e-health progress.
Speaking on the AM Show on JoyNews, Dr Amoakoh questioned the rationale behind cancelling the LHIMS contract, which she said had achieved significant progress in digitising patient medical records across the country.
“When this whole thing of changing from LHIMS to GHIMS came up, my first question was, what happened to the medical records?” she said. “It has taken us about five years to get to a point where about 70% or more of health facilities are covered under the e-health projects under LHIMS.”
She expressed concern that the sudden transition could disrupt patient record management and reverse gains made in building a connected health data system.
According to her, LHIMS was designed to allow patients’ records to be accessed seamlessly across hospitals, reducing duplication and improving service delivery.
Dr Amoakoh alleged that the Health Minister’s decision to terminate the LHIMS contract may have been influenced by “personal interests,” claiming that preparations for GHIMS had begun even before the official announcement.
“Before he even came out to do that press conference—which to me was almost a waste of time—he had already sent out notices to all hospitals regarding training for GHIMS,” she stated.
She further explained that while LHIMS faced some operational challenges, most were due to delays by the Ministry in fulfilling its contractual obligations.
“For two weeks, it wasn’t working because the ministry was not ceding to the other side of the contract. They weren’t fulfilling their terms, and so LHIMS withdrew their support,” she added.
Dr Amoakoh urged the government to reconsider the decision, warning that any gaps in data transition could compromise patient safety and national health planning.
The Ministry of Health has defended the shift to GHIMS as part of efforts to consolidate data management under a unified national platform.
However, stakeholders have called for transparency and a clear migration plan to protect years of patient records generated under the LHIMS system.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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