Lightwave E-Healthcare Solutions has issued a sharp rebuttal to allegations from Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh regarding a major national e-health contract. The company labelled the Minister’s recent statements in Parliament and at a public forum as “false and misleading,” arguing they threaten to derail Ghana’s digital health progress.
Directly countering the Minister’s claim that Ghanaian medical records were “managed from India,” Lightwave stated this is entirely untrue. It clarified that all patient data is the sole property of the Health Ministry and is stored physically at the Ministry’s data centre in Accra. The software used to manage the records, however, is Lightwave’s own intellectual property, licensed to the government.
The company also challenged the Minister’s assertion that it received 77% of a $100 million contract for less than half the work. Lightwave explained that the 950 health facilities in the contract had different values. It claimed that deployments in key teaching hospitals alone accounted for 21% of the value, and that by the contract’s end, it had fulfilled work entitling it to roughly 72% of the total sum.
On the subject of delays, Lightwave pointed to prolonged government approval processes, significant payment delays, and the COVID-19 pandemic as primary causes. It noted that while the Ministry was contractually obliged to pay invoices within 36 days, delays averaged 10 months, creating severe financial strain.
Allegations of supplying substandard or insufficient equipment were also rejected, with Lightwave insisting all hardware met contractual specs. It further corrected the Minister’s figures on laptop deliveries and revealed it is still owed for eight months of work performed after the contract period. The company noted it continues to support over 200 active health facilities.
Urging an end to “uninformed commentary,” Lightwave called for a cooperative resolution to the impasse. It emphasized that its system has been running efficiently for nearly nine years and reaffirmed its readiness to collaborate with the Ministry to complete the project and ensure care continuity for Ghanaians.
