Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has officially launched the National E-Health project, a pioneering initiative aimed at digitizing Ghana’s healthcare system to improve service delivery and streamline access to patient information across the country. The launch of this project represents a significant step toward modernizing healthcare in Ghana, transitioning from paper records to a secure, digital health management system.
Developed by the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the E-Health project introduces a comprehensive electronic medical record system that integrates Ghana’s Disease Surveillance Unit protocols. With LHIMS’ implementation, teaching, regional, and district hospitals nationwide are now interconnected, allowing for seamless digital access to patient records between facilities. As a result, patients will no longer need to carry physical files when referred to another hospital, regardless of the location.
Dr. Bawumia emphasized the broader government-led digitalization agenda, highlighting that this e-health transformation aligns with other digital initiatives, such as the Ghana Card, mobile money interoperability, the national e-pharmacy platform, and the Zipline medical drone delivery service.
The Vice President acknowledged that, historically, developing nations like Ghana faced limitations in accessing timely patient records, managing manual health insurance claims, and processing health data for effective decision-making. He noted that these challenges are now being addressed through this groundbreaking project, which has already been deployed in 481 health facilities, including all major teaching and regional hospitals across Ghana’s 16 regions. The project has also begun expanding to over 1,000 health centers nationwide.
With an impressive 21 million Ghanaians currently registered in the system, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, Minister of Health, praised President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia for their vision, recognizing the National E-Health project as a pivotal achievement that enhances healthcare accessibility, patient record portability, revenue tracking, and epidemic monitoring.
Mr. Eric Agyei, Project Manager of LHIMS, expressed confidence in the project’s potential to transform Ghana’s healthcare system by improving clinical operations and enabling data-driven decision-making.
