The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has directed health facilities and district offices across the country to temporarily return to paper-based reporting following the nationwide shutdown of its electronic health information systems.
In an internal memorandum dated November 2, 2026, Director-General Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea instructed facilities to continue completing patient registers and monthly summary forms manually to prevent gaps in national health records.
The directive is intended to preserve health information for October and November so the records can be entered into the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2) once access is restored.
The GHS also clarified that some Android applications linked to its health information platforms can still collect data offline.
These include eTracker, family planning and healthcare applications, HIV and tuberculosis trackers, non-communicable disease monitoring tools and other health reporting applications.
Users have been advised to continue capturing information on these applications for uploading when the systems become operational again.
The disruption began on October 29, 2026, after the Service's cloud hosting provider suspended access to its servers over outstanding administrative and payment issues.
The shutdown has affected DHIMS2, the Planning and Budget Management Information System and several other platforms used for health data collection, reporting and monitoring.
Dr Akoriyea disclosed that the GHS is seeking approval for US$64,510.95 to reinstate its suspended hosting account with Akamai.
He said an alternative option involving the procurement of new servers and rebuilding the systems could take up to six weeks.
The GHS has assured health officials that no data has been lost, as encrypted backups were maintained outside the suspended account.
