Ghana’s Digital Health Backbone Collapsing Over Ministry Negligence

For nearly a decade, Ghana’s healthcare system has quietly relied on a digital lifeline, the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS).

Developed and operated by the Ghanaian company Lightwave Healthcare Solutions Ltd., the platform helped hospitals transition from paper folders to seamless electronic record systems. Doctors could instantly access patient histories and health data flowed efficiently across regions.

Today, that progress is on the brink of collapse.

A System on Life Support

According to reliable sources, the LHIMS platform which has digitized more than 26 million patient encounters is “hanging by a thread.”

They accuse the Ministry of Health (MoH) of neglecting the system and failing to fund or renew its contract.

Sources revealed that Lightwave has kept Ghana’s digital health system running for nine months without a single cedi from the Ministry.

The company’s previous contract expired in late 2024 and despite submitting an extension request it has yet to receive a response.

In the meantime, Lightwave has continued to provide 24-hour technical support, update servers, maintain data links and troubleshoot outages, all without government backing.

“This situation has become untenable,” one source said. Facing rising operational costs and official silence, the company has begun scaling back services and reallocating staff a decision made out of necessity, not choice.

Signs of Strain in the System

A visit to major health facilities in the Eastern Region and Greater Accra revealed growing frustration among medical officers.“We sometimes can’t log in for hours and have to return to paper records,” a nurse at a district hospital confessed.

Hospital IT teams have also reported fewer remote updates from Lightwave’s command centre due to downsized maintenance operations.

“The problem isn’t with the software,” another insider emphasised. “It’s with the Ministry’s failure to fund and renew the contract. This is a governance failure, not a technical one.”

A Failed Meeting and a Travel Hold

In mid-2025, Lightwave’s CEO was invited to Ghana for a high-level meeting with the Minister of Health to resolve the funding crisis and finalise a new agreement.

However, the meeting reportedly ended without any resolution.

Soon after, a temporary travel hold was allegedly placed on the CEO’s passport a move described by insiders as “unsettling and intimidating.”

Although the restriction was later lifted, the incident deepened mistrust and strained relations between the Ministry and the company.

Bureaucracy and Blame-Shifting

Sources claim that some Ministry officials have begun compiling selective performance data to portray Lightwave as non-performing.

Insiders at Lightwave describe this as a “smear campaign” meant to justify government inaction.

“We’ve provided integration logs, uptime reports, maintenance records the data doesn’t lie,” a project manager said.

“What’s collapsing isn’t LHIMS. It’s institutional accountability,” he added.

Independent health analysts agree, warning that Ghana’s e-health ecosystem depends on consistent financial and policy support.

Without it, the digital backbone connecting hospitals, insurance systems, and patient identities could collapse erasing a decade of progress.

Despite the impasse, Lightwave Engineers continue to sustain the system often at personal and corporate sacrifice.

In one instance, the company replaced fire-damaged hardware at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital data centre without reimbursement, simply “because lives depend on the system,” a source said.

What’s at Stake

If LHIMS fails, hospitals could revert to paper-based systems, jeopardizing patient safety and continuity of care.

“We’re not just talking about a digital tool,” said an analyst at the Centre for Health Informatics. We’re talking about the nerve center of Ghana’s healthcare system. If LHIMS goes down, the entire e-health chain goes down with it,” the source added.

Ironically, as policymakers tout “digital transformation,” the infrastructure enabling it is being starved of funding.

Experts say the LHIMS crisis reflects a broader pattern of neglect toward local innovation celebrated at launch, abandoned in silence.

For now, LHIMS remains online sustained by a shrinking team of Ghanaian engineers working beyond their limits. But the warning is clear.

“Good faith can’t fund servers or pay salaries,” one insider cautioned.

“If nothing changes, Ghana’s digital health revolution won’t end with a crash. It’ll end with a quiet blackout.”

 

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