The Department of Health and Family Welfare has acknowledged manpower shortage in the medico-legal system, but added that service delivery has not been disrupted.The development came after The Tribune’s recent report “Punjab’s medico-legal system runs thin, 19 districts without experts”, which highlighted the acute shortage of forensic medicine specialists across the state.The department pointed to a digital reform under which 346 institutions across all 23 districts now operated on a unified medico legal governance framework. Anchored by the PEHCHAAN portal, the system had registered over 1.44 lakh new cases in its first year, integrated real time with police networks and reduced turnaround time for forensic reports.