Former Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, has defended payments made under the $100 million Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) project, insisting that all disbursements during his tenure reflected actual work done.
His clarification follows claims by Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, that the LHIMS contract was riddled with irregularities and had been referred to the Attorney-General for review and possible prosecution.
According to Mr. Akandoh, the vendor received more than $77 million despite completing less than half of the installations under the project.
Responding to the allegations, Dr. Okoe Boye explained that payments made under the previous administration were consistent with the progress of work as verified at the time of the government’s exit.
“The whole work they are doing is worth 100 million dollars. They have not been paid more than 100 million dollars. At the time we exited, our reconciliation with them showed that the amount of invoices they had raised and the amount of money they had received was equivalent to 76 million dollars,” he clarified.
The former Ledzokuku MP further disclosed that about 450 health facilities had been connected to the system, with the value of work completed estimated at $66 million. The remaining $10 million, he explained, was treated as an advance payment in line with the contractual agreement.
“We sat down with them when we were there, and it was agreed that 10 million dollars would be treated as an advance certificate. In the contract, an advance certificate means money you have ahead of the job,” Dr. Okoe Boye added.
The LHIMS platform was introduced to digitize and integrate patient data across Ghana’s public health facilities. However, the current government has announced plans to phase it out and replace it with the Ghana Healthcare Information Management System (GHIMS), a new digital platform expected to enhance performance and ensure stronger data protection.
Source: Adomonline
ALSO READ: