The underlying philosophy of the Health Act in relation to the three tiers of Government rendering health services in South Africa is to establish flexibility of functions and so to meet local needs and to use local resources to the best advantage. Implicit in this is a coordination of the activities of all three tiers of Government, at the same time involving the services of welfare and other organisations. Overlapping and repetition of services should thus be eliminated. This latter feature is of particular importance if energy, time and money is not to be wasted. Let me emphasise