The Greater Accra Regional Hospital, popularly known as Ridge Hospital, has become the first major beneficiary of the government’s new Ghana Healthcare Information Management System (GHIMS), earning widespread praise from staff for its user-friendly design and reliability.
The digital platform replaces the malfunctioning Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), which for years hindered service delivery, disrupted patient records, and cost hospitals millions in revenue losses.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Lambussie and Board Chair of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Hon. Professor Titus Beyuo, confirmed that Ridge Hospital staff are jubilant about the new platform, describing GHIMS as more adaptable, intuitive, and responsive to institutional needs.
“What I can confirm to you is that our colleagues at Ridge Hospital are jubilating as of today because the new software introduced is more user-friendly to them. It is very accessible”
Hon. Prof. Titus Beyuo, MP for Lambussie and Board Chair of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
Hon. Prof. Beyuo, who also serves on Parliament’s Select Committee on Health, explained that GHIMS allows hospitals to customise features to match internal processes, reducing the need for external technical intervention.
He noted that this flexibility marks a major step forward in Ghana’s effort to modernise public health administration and restore confidence in digital healthcare management. He referenced Health Minister Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh’s announcement of a structured four-week plan to migrate health facilities across the country onto the new system.
Speaking earlier at the Government Accountability Series, Hon. Akandoh said the transition will be done in phases to minimise disruption and ensure continuity of care. The plan begins with teaching hospitals, regional hospitals, and large district facilities before extending to clinics, health centres, and community-based health planning services (CHPS) compounds.
The Health Minister expressed confidence that the exercise will “stabilise the country’s digital health infrastructure and prevent a relapse into manual record-keeping,” which has slowed patient processing in several facilities.
Lightwave System Blamed
Hon. Prof. Beyuo has been one of the most vocal critics of the previous Lightwave Health Information Management System, which he said enabled unauthorised users to manipulate patient data and erase billing records.
“From Korle Bu, at some point, people could enter into the Lightwave system and delete patient bills; they delete the entire patient records and then take money from the patient and nothing comes to the hospital”
Hon. Prof. Titus Beyuo, MP for Lambussie and Board Chair of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
He disclosed that the system’s security flaws allowed fraudulent activities that deprived hospitals of significant income and undermined the integrity of Ghana’s health data.
“Some of my colleagues started writing their operation notes manually,” he added, explaining that vulnerabilities also compelled many doctors to revert to manual documentation to safeguard patient information and preserve accountability.
The Lightwave platform had faced criticism for years, with hospitals reporting constant breakdowns, poor user support, and delays in software updates. According to Hon. Prof. Beyuo, technical personnel from India were often cited as the only ones capable of fixing system issues, a dependency that led to costly delays and, eventually, total system failure.
“As a user myself, the Lightwave was bad,” he said.
A Fresh Start
The replacement of Lightwave with GHIMS marks what officials describe as a critical reset in Ghana’s digital health journey. Hon. Prof. Beyuo asked for the next phase of the rollout to be extended to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to build on the Ridge Hospital success story.
“I have personally called the Minister of Health to suggest that it should be the next place for piloting,” he stated.
The Ministry of Health says GHIMS was designed to ensure data security, enhance transparency, and streamline hospital operations nationwide. It forms part of a broader health digitisation agenda under President John Dramani Mahama’s administration to “strengthen governance, improve patient care, and plug revenue leakages within the public health system.”
The transition also represents a renewed push to align Ghana’s healthcare digitisation with global standards. With hospitals across the country expected to join the new platform in the coming weeks, the Ministry remains confident that the era of unreliable digital record-keeping and data manipulation has ended.
“The new system will ensure continuity of healthcare delivery and restore the confidence of both healthcare workers and patients,” Hon. Prof. Beyuo concluded.
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