The IT infrastructure at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has been classified as critical national information infrastructure by the Ministry of Communication and Digitization and the National Cyber Security Authority.

This classification empathizes with the hospital’s vulnerability to cyber attacks, like ransomware, phishing, and data breaches that compromise patient data, disrupt services, and inflict financial losses.

The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has collaborated with the National Cyber Security Authority to heighten staff awareness of basic cybersecurity and ensure adherence to regulations to mitigate risks.

The healthcare sector is a prime target for cyberattacks due to the sensitive nature of patient data and the critical importance of uninterrupted medical services.

According to the Cyber Security Authority, in the last 18 months, fifteen entities consisting of eight public hospitals, three private hospitals and four medical labs have been assessed with low cybersecurity maturity levels.

With the adoption of digital systems, information on patients at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital is taken, stored, managed, and retrieved electronically following the rollout of the Electronic Medical Records System (EMRS) of the Ministry of Health.

A Cyber Security Expert with the Ghana Police Service, Dunstan Guba, is encouraging stakeholders to adopt a decentralized approach to educating and managing cybersecurity incidents.

“Ensuring that our personnel are conscious of how their actions or inactions can affect the cybersecurity posture of our health institutions is crucial. It means we need to pay attention to capacity building and awareness programmes that provide them with the knowledge they need to use or manage the various digital platforms in the health sector safely.

“The CSA has collaborated with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the development of a cyber hygiene curriculum to leverage the e-learning platform of the Health Service to deliver cyber hygiene practices, common threats, and data protection at the hospital levels,” he said.

The cyber security awareness week celebration at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital seeks to make staff conscious of the basics of cybersecurity to help protect patient information.

The awareness creation event theme: “Securing Health Data in the Age of Misinformation: A Collaborative Approach to Digital Resilience” is in line with the global campaign to raise and deepen public knowledge and awareness about the importance of cyber security worldwide.

The event was premised on cyber regulatory compliance, patient trust and safety and human error mitigation.

Chief Executive Officer of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Prof. Otchere Addai-Mensah, is cautioning staff to obey regulations and maintain the integrity and availability of clinical and non-clinical services of the hospital.

“Patients share their most sensitive information with us, and they deserve the assurance that their data is secure and their privacy respected. And we face an alarming rise in misinformation, often exacerbated by the rapid spread of digital content.

“Misinformation can lead to poor health decisions, distrust in medical guidance, and a general reluctance to seek necessary care. We must work together, with hospitals, healthcare providers, technology experts, and policy-makers, to establish robust frameworks for data protection and to combat misinformation effectively, and compliance to regulations” he said