SLOWLY placing a baby on a clean white sheet on an examination bed, a nurse with almost four decades of experience bends over to check for signs that may indicate the child needs further medical attention.

In the 10 minutes or so that she takes to examine the baby, senior community nurse Piuh Lian Angeline speaks to the child's mother who is standing nearby to get her feedback on possible peculiar behaviour before giving a clean bill of health to Rina Rania Augustine who is 5 weeks old.

"It is very important to check on how newborns are doing. If babies show signs of being unhealthy, or if they are not growing well, we need to refer these cases to doctors.

"If nothing is done to assist newborns who are not well, they could end up with medical problems later.

"Every time a newborn is brought in for a check-up, we examine the child's body such as making sure the baby's back is straight.

"We weigh the baby and if we find a child is underweight, we advise the mother on things that she needs to do," Angeline said when met at the Simpudu rural health clinic in the Papar district, southwest of Kota Kinabalu.

The Ministry of Health-run clinic, which opened its doors in 1969, serves some 6,000 people who live in 17 villages. Angeline runs the show with the help of two nurses.

Their handphone numbers are written on a white board outside the wooden building which is about the size of a regular kampung home.

This means villagers can reach them each time there is an emergency outside office hours.

Angeline said the health clinic concentrated on mother-and-child care to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.

"We provide health checks for women during their pregnancies. Some women suffer from low or high-blood pressure, some have anaemia.

"Our clinic provides them with advice on what they should do to improve their health and we also hand out supplements such as folic acid and iron tablets."