Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has officially launched Ghana’s National E-Health project, set to transform healthcare service delivery by digitizing patient records across the nation.
This groundbreaking digital solution, the first of its kind in Africa, shifts Ghana from analogue to electronic patient record-keeping, prioritizing security, reliability, and accessibility. Developed by the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the E-Health system aims to establish a unified electronic medical record and patient management system, integrating protocols from Ghana’s Disease Surveillance Unit.
As part of this initiative, all teaching, regional, and district hospitals in Ghana have transitioned to digital records, interconnecting facilities to enable easy, electronic access to patient information across hospitals. Patients referred between hospitals, regardless of location, no longer need to carry physical files, simplifying their healthcare experience.
Dr. Bawumia emphasized that the digital era, or fourth industrial revolution, has led to significant advances across sectors, including healthcare. However, he noted that developing countries like Ghana have faced challenges in fully adopting digital advancements. He asserted that this is changing under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s digitalization agenda, which has driven progress over the past eight years.
“In our efforts to change this narrative, I have spearheaded numerous initiatives using digital technologies to enhance government service delivery, boost revenue, combat corruption, and expand financial inclusion and innovation in Ghana,” Dr. Bawumia stated. He cited key initiatives such as the Ghana Card, the digital address system, mobile money interoperability, and the Ghana.gov e-services platform, among others.
In the health sector, Dr. Bawumia highlighted projects including the Ghana Card at Birth, the national e-pharmacy platform, the digital National Health Insurance renewal system, the Zipline medical drone delivery service, and the LHIMS as components of the broader national e-health project.
Previously, Ghana’s healthcare system grappled with challenges such as limited access to patient records, difficulties transferring records between service points, fragmented systems, manual processing of health insurance claims, and limited data for informed decision-making. Dr. Bawumia noted that the implementation of LHIMS has addressed many of these issues, significantly improving healthcare delivery since its pilot phase in 2017.
Following a successful pilot in 2018, phase two of the project commenced in 2019, expanding LHIMS deployment to approximately 481 facilities across all 16 regions. This includes six teaching hospitals, 10 regional hospitals, 243 district hospitals, three psychiatric hospitals, and 50 polyclinics, with more than 1,000 health centers currently undergoing deployment.
Dr. Bawumia highlighted the benefits of LHIMS, which has streamlined patient record-keeping, enhanced revenue tracking, improved National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) claims processing, and reduced waiting times. The system also enables quick access to epidemic information, facilitating early disease outbreak detection.
He expressed hope that LHIMS would pave the way for future telemedicine initiatives, potentially reducing healthcare costs in Ghana.
Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, the Minister of Health, praised President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia for their vision in implementing LHIMS, noting its substantial clinical, operational, technical, and economic benefits. He revealed that 21 million Ghanaians, nearly half of the population, now have their data captured in the system, with ongoing efforts to achieve full coverage.
Eric Agyei, Project Manager of LHIMS, underscored the project’s significance, stating that collaboration with the Ministry of Health would lead to lasting transformation in Ghana’s healthcare system, positioning the nation as a leader in e-health innovation.
