Home - Unpaid US$64,510 bill forces shutdown of GHS health information systems

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has lost access to several of its electronic health information systems nationwide after its cloud hosting provider suspended its servers over an outstanding bill of US$64,510.

According to a report by myjoyonline.com on November 5, 2026, the shutdown took effect on October 29, 2026, affecting the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2), which serves as the GHS's main platform for collecting, managing, and reporting health data across the country.

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Other digital platforms used by health facilities and officials have also been affected, disrupting access to important health information and reporting services.

The report disclosed that an internal memo dated November 2, 2026, was addressed to regional and divisional directors, in which the GHS Director-General, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, indicated that the hosting provider had switched off all 10 servers supporting the systems.

He, however, assured health officials that the suspension had not resulted in a security breach or loss of data.

“There has been no security breach, and no data has been lost. Nightly encrypted backups of every system are held outside the suspended account and are current to 29th October 2026,” he stated.

The suspension has affected DHIMS2, which is used by health facilities to enter, validate and analyse health data, as well as generate reports.

The Planning and Budget Management Information System (PBMIS), which provides access to plans and budgets, is also unavailable.

Other affected platforms include the eTracker, Family Planning and Health Care (FPHC) platform, Operational Training and Supervision Support (OTSS) assessment system and the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) tracker.

The HIV and tuberculosis tracking systems, together with the ISRS sample tracker, have also lost access to their web platforms and laboratory connections.

However, the report added that the Android applications used by some of these systems can still collect information offline.

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The National Malaria Data Repository (NMDR), inpatient morbidity and mortality Events system, SMS alerts, transport system, and Community Health Information Management (CHIM) portal are also among the affected services.

The shutdown has further disrupted the data-exchange gateway used to send birth notifications to the National Identification Authority and the Births and Deaths Registry.

MAG/BAI

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