Questions were raised in relation to cross-boundary patients and the extent to which these impacted on the provision of services as well as on budgets. The Committee also sought to determine whether the poor service delivery at provinces could be associated with a failure to manage at the national level. To this end, the National Department of Health noted that the provincial boundaries could not be used as a reason to deny any person access to health facilities. It added that the country only has ten central hospitals. This meant that certain health services could only be obtained in some provinces and not in others. The National Tertiary Services Grant made provision for this.