OpenMRS
Open-source medical record platform built in Java, running on Tomcat with a MySQL or MariaDB database. It is memory hungry rather than CPU hungry, so give it several gigabytes of RAM and fast disk for the database.
Hospital EMR hosting in Kenya
A private server for your patient records, not a PC under the reception desk
Run OpenMRS, KenyaEMR, Bahmni, OpenEMR or your own clinic system on a VPS with full root access. Your branches, labs and doctors on call reach the same records over HTTPS, and a power cut at the facility no longer takes the patient file offline.
15 users
We suggest
VPS V2
KES 5,000/mo
Its 8 GB of RAM is what OpenMRS and KenyaEMR want for a busy clinic or small hospital, with room for MySQL buffers and a nightly backup job running alongside.
Order VPS V2Why clinics in Kenya are moving their EMR off the premises
Many Kenyan clinics still run their records system on a desktop in the back office. It works until the UPS gives up during a blackout, a technician reinstalls Windows, or a second branch opens in another town and needs the same patient history. A VPS keeps one copy of the database in a data centre, reachable from every consultation room, pharmacy counter and lab bench with a browser.
Hospital software is heavier than a typical website. OpenMRS and KenyaEMR run on Java and keep a large part of the concept dictionary in memory, so RAM matters more than raw disk. Bahmni adds a lab system and Odoo for billing and stock. Scanned referral letters, lab PDFs and imaging reports grow storage month after month, and the database must be backed up every night, not whenever someone remembers.
Patient information is sensitive personal data under the Data Protection Act 2019, so who can log in to the server, how backups are encrypted and where copies are kept are decisions the facility owns. With root access on a HostingKE VPS you control the firewall, the user accounts and the backup schedule, and our support team can advise on sizing and setup when you need a second opinion.
The problem
Problems a proper EMR server solves
Records vanish in a blackout
When the EMR lives on a local PC, every power cut or tripped breaker stops registration, triage and dispensing. A hosted server stays up while the facility runs on generator or paper, and staff carry on from phones on mobile data.
Branches that cannot see each other
A patient seen at your main clinic walks into the satellite branch and the history is missing. One central database means allergies, prescriptions and lab results follow the patient across every site you run.
Shared logins and open ports
Clinic servers are often exposed with default passwords and a database port open to the internet. On your own VPS you close everything except HTTPS and SSH, give each clinician an individual account and keep an audit trail of access.
Backups nobody has tested
A copy of the database on a flash disk in a drawer is not a backup plan. Scheduled dumps, copied off the server and restored on a test machine each month, are what get a facility running again after a disk or ransomware incident.
What runs on it
Health systems that run well on a VPS
These are the platforms Kenyan facilities most often ask us about. Each has its own requirements, so check the vendor documentation for the version you install.
KenyaEMR
An OpenMRS distribution widely used in Kenyan public and faith-based facilities, especially for HIV care and national reporting. It inherits the Java and MySQL needs of OpenMRS and benefits from scheduled database backups and a reliable connection for data exchange.
Bahmni
A hospital system that combines OpenMRS for clinical records, OpenELIS for the laboratory and Odoo for billing and stock. Recent releases install with Docker, and the full stack needs far more memory than OpenMRS on its own.
OpenEMR
A mature open-source practice management and EHR system written in PHP with a MySQL or MariaDB database. It suits outpatient clinics and specialists, and runs comfortably on a smaller server than the Java-based options.
Custom clinic systems
Many Kenyan clinics run a system written in Laravel, Django or .NET by a local developer, covering registration, billing, pharmacy and insurance claims. A VPS gives your developer root access to install the exact runtime and database the code expects.
Sizing
Which VPS fits your facility
Move the slider to the number of staff who are logged in at the busiest hour of the day, usually the morning outpatient rush.
- 1–8 users VPS V1 Enough for a single-doctor clinic on a lightweight PHP system such as OpenEMR or a small custom app. Java-based OpenMRS and KenyaEMR need more memory than V1 has, so start them on V2.
- 9–60 users VPS V2 Its 8 GB of RAM is what OpenMRS and KenyaEMR want for a busy clinic or small hospital, with room for MySQL buffers and a nightly backup job running alongside.
- 61–150 users VPS V4 24 GB of memory and six cores to serve many wards at once, plus 480 GB of disk for scanned documents, lab reports and several days of local backups.
- 151+ users VPS V5 With 40 GB of RAM and ten cores, V5 can carry the full Bahmni stack or a multi-branch hospital system with reporting tools, without staff waiting at the busiest hour.
Treat this as a starting point: real load depends on the software, how many reports run during clinic hours and how many scanned files you store.
VPS V1
KES 2,000/mo
- 1 Core
- 1 GB RAM
- 40 GB NVMe
- 1 TB transfer
VPS V2
KES 5,000/mo
- 2 Cores
- 8 GB RAM
- 160 GB SSD
- 8 TB transfer
VPS V3
KES 7,000/mo
- 4 Cores
- 16 GB RAM
- 320 GB SSD
- 16 TB transfer
VPS V4
KES 15,000/mo
- 6 Cores
- 24 GB RAM
- 480 GB SSD
- 24 TB transfer
VPS V5
KES 20,000/mo
- 10 Cores
- 40 GB RAM
- 800 GB SSD
- 40 TB transfer
Before you go live
Go-live checklist for a hospital EMR server
0 of 8 done. Tick them off as you go.
Built for Kenya
What Kenyan facilities should keep in mind
Health data is sensitive personal data
The Data Protection Act 2019 treats health information as sensitive personal data, and facilities that process it are generally expected to register with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. Ask your legal adviser what applies to you; the server setup should support those obligations.
Claims work depends on clean records
Insurance and SHA claims are only as good as the clinical and billing data behind them. A central system that every department updates, instead of separate spreadsheets per branch, makes it easier to prepare claims and answer queries when they come back.
Facility internet is not always reliable
Hosting off the premises protects the data from local outages, but staff still need to reach it. Many clinics keep a fibre line plus a mobile data router as backup, so registration continues when one provider has a fault.
Questions
Hospital & clinic systems: your questions, answered
How much RAM does OpenMRS or KenyaEMR need?
OpenMRS runs on Java and holds a lot in memory, so a production install with a handful of concurrent users is uncomfortable below about 4 GB once MySQL is on the same server. For a busy clinic we suggest VPS V2 with 8 GB, and V5 if you also run Bahmni or heavy reporting.
Is it legal to host patient records outside the hospital building?
Kenyan law does not require records to sit on a server inside the facility. What the Data Protection Act 2019 asks is that sensitive data is processed lawfully and protected with appropriate safeguards. Take advice on your specific obligations, especially if any data or backups would be stored outside Kenya.
Will you install OpenMRS or KenyaEMR for us?
Free setup covers the server itself: the operating system, network and your root login. Installing and configuring the EMR is done by your IT team, implementing partner or vendor. Our support team can advise on server sizing, firewall rules and backup scheduling while they work.
Can our branches and doctors on call use the same system?
Yes. Because the VPS is reachable over the internet, any branch, lab or doctor with a browser and an account can log in over HTTPS. Restrict access with strong passwords, role permissions and, where your software supports it, two-factor authentication.
How should we back up an EMR database?
Run a scheduled database dump every night, encrypt it, and copy it off the VPS to separate storage. Keep several days of history so a corrupted record can be recovered from before the problem started, and restore a backup on a test server regularly to prove it works.
What happens to the EMR when the clinic loses power or internet?
The server keeps running in the data centre, so nothing is lost. Staff can continue on phones or laptops using mobile data, and a backup router at reception helps. Agree a short paper procedure for registration and dispensing so care continues during longer outages.
Also on VPS Hosting
VPS hosting for the systems Kenyan businesses run
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