The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has suspended access to several of its electronic health information systems nationwide after its cloud hosting provider shut down the servers over outstanding administrative and payment issues.
The shutdown, which took effect on October 29, 2026, has affected the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2), the country’s main health information reporting platform, alongside several other digital systems used by health facilities and administrators.
In an internal memorandum dated November 2 and addressed to regional and divisional directors, GHS Director-General Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea disclosed that the hosting provider had switched off all 10 servers supporting the affected platforms.
He, however, assured health officials that the incident 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.
Multiple health information systems affected
The shutdown has disrupted several digital operations across the health sector.
DHIMS2, which supports the collection and management of national health data, is currently inaccessible for data entry, validation, analysis and report extraction.
The Planning and Budget Management Information System (PBMIS), which provides access to institutional plans and budgets, has also been affected.
Other unavailable platforms include eTracker, the Family Planning and Health Care (FPHC) platform, Operational Training and Supervision Support (OTSS) assessments and the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) tracker. However, their Android data-capture applications remain operational in offline mode.
The HIV and tuberculosis trackers, as well as the ISRS sample tracker, have also lost web access and laboratory integration, although their Android applications can still function offline.
Additional affected platforms include the National Malaria Data Repository (NMDR), the Events system for inpatient morbidity and mortality, SMS alerts, the transport system and the Community Health Information Management (CHIM) portal.
The shutdown has also disrupted the data-exchange gateway used to transmit birth notifications to the National Identification Authority and the Births and Deaths Registry.
Facilities directed to revert to paper-based reporting
To prevent interruptions in health data collection and reporting, Dr Akoriyea has directed health facilities and district health administrations to temporarily revert to paper-based reporting.
Facilities have been instructed to maintain manual registers and complete monthly summary forms to ensure that data for October and November 2026 are properly captured.
The records will subsequently be entered into DHIMS2 once access to the platform is restored.
GHS seeks US$64,510 to restore systems
The memorandum outlined two possible approaches to restoring the affected digital platforms.
The first option involves reinstating the existing Akamai account by settling the outstanding payment. According to Dr Akoriyea, this would allow all systems to return to their previous operational state without requiring them to be rebuilt.
He described this as the quickest and most practical option.
The second alternative would require the procurement of new servers and the reconstruction of the systems using existing backups.
However, the process could take up to six weeks after the necessary server capacity has been secured, potentially prolonging disruptions across the health sector.
Dr Akoriyea disclosed that the GHS was finalising arrangements with Akamai and seeking approval for a payment of US$64,510.95 to restore the suspended account.
He also appealed to the sector minister to support efforts to expedite the approval process.
The Director-General further indicated that once services were restored, the GHS would consider migrating its systems to a Ghana-based hosting provider through a carefully managed process.
“Once services are restored, the Service will plan any move to a Ghana-based provider as a controlled project. That project will include a parallel run and a funded backup arrangement,” he stated.
The proposed transition is expected to include parallel system operations and a properly funded backup arrangement to minimise the risk of similar disruptions in the future.
