Mediation would reduce high litigation costs‚ but the Democratic Alliance (DA) said “the best solution is to run a good health service so that the department does not have to defend itself so often in the courts”. The party’s Jack Bloom raised concern on Tuesday that the Gauteng department had spent R161-million on legal fees in the last four years.This‚ according to information supplied by Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu is broken down thus: 2012/13 - R10.2-million‚ 2013/14 - R42.2-million‚ 2014/15 - R71.1-million and March 2015 to date - R37.5 millionBloom said: “Mahlangu blames the state attorney for delays in payment which have resulted in visits by the sheriff of the court to attach furniture.“She says that ‘in most cases the state attorney delays to inform the department of court orders but as soon as the department is aware of court orders it effects payments on time’.”Bloom said the department gets “poor value for its high legal fees as it has lost every single medical negligence claim in the past five years”.He said the DA welcomed Mahlangu’s statement that “alternative dispute mechanisms such as mediation to reduce high litigation costs” were being considered‚ as “it is speedier and cuts out expensive lawyers”...