The Ministry of Health has announced that Lightwave E-healthcare Solution has rescinded its decision to suspend its services under the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS).

The ministry revealed this information after revealing that the "decision to suspend services came to the Ministry as a surprise since there was no formal communication to the Ministry regarding the suspension of services."

The suspension of the company's decision following a fruitful engagement with the Minister for Health, Mintah Akandoh - a document signed by Spokesperson for the Ministry, Tony Goodman.

"Consequently, Lightwave eHealthcare Solutions shall continue to provide uninterrupted services to all relevant facilities," the statement added.

The Ministry of Health wishes to assure all health workers and the general public that all the outstanding issues will be resolved amicably.

The Ministry of Health’s National E-Health Project, featuring the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), is transforming healthcare across the country and placing Ghana at the forefront of healthcare in Africa.

This project has positively impacted the provision of care for all sites onboarded. The LHIMS application has integrated real-time state-of-the-art early warning disease surveillance, integrated management tools, and supporting dashboards unmatched anywhere on the continent.

Patient information and data management is a major challenge for all hospitals. The LHIMS application is providing accurate and timely data for hospital administrators, management, providers and clinicians for vital decision making needs and positive outcomes for patients.

Some testimonials from hospitals and health centers regarding the LHIMS application include:

Patient record portability to any LHIMS site, which assures continuation of care without the patient having to maintain and transport his/her folder.

Elimination of paper patient folders

Elimination of folder, container and storage space costs

Availability of real time data at point of care

Quick and easy access to patient Electronic Medical Records at all levels of treatment

Ability to access patient data and patient files in real time from any part of the hospital

Availability of real time data for management and clinical decisions

Improved revenue accuracy

Reduction in Patient waiting time at Outpatient wards

Reduction in Patient waiting time at Admission counters

Efficiency gains in patient wait times

Easy and accurate collection of NHIS Claims

Reduce human errors in data acquisition for DHIMS

Easily moving images from the imaging department to the consulting rooms, wards or operation theaters

Easy supervision and monitoring from the regional health directorate

Time saving by System generation of a number of management reports, KPIs and public health submissions

Provide an early warning system to predict disease outbreaks

Average annual savings of 50,000 to 300,000 along with a 35-40% improvement in patient wait times have been reported from health centers and district hospitals running LHIMS so far. Regional and Teaching hospitals are reporting over 40% improvement in wait times.

The Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) was initiated in 2018, through the Ministry of Health, to reduce some challenges in healthcare delivery in the country.

Former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia noted that so far over 62 percent of health facilities and 21 million Ghanaians had been captured and were using the LHIMS. He was hopeful that the numbers would increase in the coming years.