Akim Oda MP questions government’s handling of DHIMS2 shutdown over $64,000 debt

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, has criticised the government for allowing a delayed payment of approximately $64,000 to result in the shutdown of the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2).

He argued that authorities should have considered the potential consequences of taking the critical health data platform offline while investigations into the project were still ongoing.

His remarks followed an explanation by the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, Tony Goodman, on Eyewitness News on Friday, November 6, that payment to the system’s cloud hosting provider had been delayed due to an ongoing investigation.

The Ministry subsequently disclosed that the Health Minister had intervened and authorised payment to restore the system, allowing it to resume operations while investigations continued.

However, Akwasi Acquah, a member of Parliament’s Health Committee and former Deputy Health Minister, questioned why a relatively small financial obligation had been allowed to disrupt such an essential component of the country's health information infrastructure.

“A company that is under investigation and has access to health data, you don’t risk by saying we are not paying you. How big is this amount of money?” he asked.

He stressed that the government must appreciate the importance of the system and exercise greater caution in dealing with companies responsible for hosting sensitive and critical health information.

“We just have to be careful with the way we handle them,” he said.

The former Deputy Health Minister also maintained that restoring DHIMS2 should not bring the matter to a close, arguing that the circumstances that led to the shutdown and its wider implications must be thoroughly examined.

“We need to investigate what has happened. We need to interrogate the issues and make sure it doesn’t happen, because they’re becoming too many,” he said.

He further called for accountability, insisting that the impact of the disruption must be properly assessed rather than treating the restoration of the system as a sufficient resolution.

“The kind of effects that these stoppages bring to us must be discussed. It must be brought to bear. Otherwise, we risk sweeping it under the carpet,” he added.