The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is seeking approval for a US$64,510.95 payment to restore access to its electronic health information systems after its cloud hosting provider shut down the servers over outstanding administrative issues.
The shutdown, which took effect on October 29, 2026, has affected the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2) and several other digital platforms used across the health sector.
In an internal memo dated November 2, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, informed regional and divisional directors that the provider had switched off all 10 servers hosting the systems.
He said the disruption had not resulted in a security breach or data loss, as encrypted backups were available outside the suspended account.
“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 said.
The affected platforms include DHIMS2, used for health data entry, validation and reporting, and the Planning and Budget Management Information System (PBMIS).
Other systems affected are eTracker, the Family Planning and Health Care platform, the Non-Communicable Disease tracker, the National Malaria Data Repository and the Community Health Information Management portal.
The shutdown has also disrupted web access to HIV and tuberculosis trackers, laboratory integration for the ISRS sample tracker and the data-exchange gateway used to transmit birth notifications to the National Identification Authority and the Births and Deaths Registry.
Some Android applications remain functional offline.
To prevent interruptions in health reporting, Dr Akoriyea has directed health facilities and districts to revert to paper-based records until the systems are restored.
They have been asked to complete registers and monthly summary forms manually to ensure data for October and November 2026 can be entered into DHIMS2 when access is restored.
The Director-General said the Service was considering two options to restore the platforms.
The first is to settle the outstanding balance with Akamai to reinstate the existing account and restore the systems without rebuilding them.
The second involves procuring new servers and reconstructing the platforms using existing backups, a process that could take up to six weeks after the required capacity is secured.
Dr Akoriyea said the GHS was finalising arrangements with Akamai and seeking approval for the US$64,510.95 payment.
He appealed to the sector minister to support efforts to expedite the approval.
He added that the Service would consider moving to a Ghana-based hosting provider after restoration, through a controlled transition involving parallel operations and a funded backup arrangement.
