Eric Agyei, Project Manager of the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), says the widespread disruption in the digital health record system in hospitals is largely due to unresolved administrative and contractual issues.

Speaking on the AM Show, Agyei explained that although the system “has been working all this while,” the expiry of the contract in 2024 and subsequent delays in securing an extension have thrown the project’s future into uncertainty.

“We wrote for an extension which didn’t materialise … we didn’t hear anything until a new government came into office,” he said.

The pause comes in the context of a recent announcement by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) that several of its electronic hospital management systems are currently facing temporary disruptions nationwide. 

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The scale of the issue has triggered delays at government hospitals — particularly in the Ashanti Region — as facilities revert to manual record-keeping and patients report longer waiting times. 

According to Agyei, the problem began with the scheduled expiry of the LHIMS contract toward the end of 2024. He said that because the then-administration requested integrations with systems such as the Birth and Death Registry, the company sought an extension. But the extension was not granted, and as months passed under the new government, Agyei said there was no official communication.

He added that “we made efforts to engage the Minister of Health or the ministry … because it’s been close to six months and nobody has called to get to know anything about the system” — a project he described as “one of the novel systems that the ministry is running.”

Beyond the contract limbo, Agyei also lamented that the company is dealing with unauthorised actors posing as Lightwave staff, carrying out audits at facilities.

“If anyone comes in the name of Lightwave … they should really let us know,” he warned.

For its part, Lightwave eHealthcare Solutions Limited has publicly reaffirmed its commitment to Ghana’s e-health vision despite operating without a renewed formal contract for several months. 

The firm says that while the system remains functional in many facilities, the lack of investment and formal backing is causing technical challenges and undermining sustainability.

Meanwhile, the NHIA has directed providers to use a mobile phone-based Claims Check Code (CCC) platform as a temporary workaround and cautioned facilities against passing delays onto patients.