PESHAWAR: The health department is strengthening its litigation cell to pursue effectively cases filed by the employees and ensure compliance of administrative orders by the workers in the best interest of patients.

`Within month and a half, we will get services of two legal consultants as part of our initiative to strengthen the current litigation cell in the department. There are two section officers, who are required to pursue about 1,500 cases in the court,` official sources said.

They said that posts of consultants were sanctioned by government last month on the request of health department to cope with increasing litigation by doctors,paramedics, nurses and other employees regarding promotions, transfers and postings.

The health department had sent a request to chief minister, describing legal cases against department`s administrative orders as one of the major hindrances in its plan to make decisions on technical grounds because the employees obtained stay order and the directives vanished in the air.

`Number of cases against department is filing up,` said sources. They added that challenging administrative orders by employees of health department was a common practice.

Sources said that government was also informed that both the section officers were required to pursue cases in lower court, Peshawar High Court and its benches in Swat and Abbottabad.

The department had sought urgent hiring of consultants to enable it to implement its directives and improve patients` care, they added.

They said that government approved the summary and health department recently asked the lawdepartment to provide it with two legal experts.

`Quality of work depends of quantity and it is not possible for the present litigation cell to pursue increasing cases,` said sources.

They said that in most cases, the petitioners succeed to disobey government`s orders issued under the prescribed rules owing to department`s inability to defend its orders before the courts.

`Relief obtained from courts against government`s directives has adversely affected the patients` care. Non-compliance by staffers has been hampering government`s plan to post professionals on need basis. Employees of all grades have defied department`s directive, said sources.

They said that health department had been sending such requests to law and other relevant departments for legal section for the last few years but it hadn`t received a positive response despite approval of a PC-1 by government in 2012 that authorised the department to recruit law graduates to fight court cases effec-tively.

Sources said that legal consultants would be employees of the health department and they would establish a proper cell at the department. The government had pledged more support to improve patients` care, they added.

The request for a strong litigation cell gained credence when government hired private lawyers to follow litigation relating to implementation of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015.

Advocate-general, a senior lawyer, contested the cases against the new law successfully.

The government faced 10 cases, filed by the representatives of different employees` associations, which blocked implementation of the law at the teaching hospitals, sources said. They added that ultimately PHC declared the law genuine to end the long-drawn battles.

The employees were on weak positions because they were legally bound to obey the directives of their administrators as health services were also essential, sources said.