Introduction The total number of patients, especially the non-urgent cases (Priority 3) attending the Accident and Emergency Department (AED) of the RIPAS Hospital have increased from 1996 to 2003. This questionnaire study looked at the reasons for attending the AED of RIPAS Hospital instead of the outpatient peripheral clinics or health centres. Materials and Methods The study was conducted using prepared survey questions (17 questions) from 15th May to 15th June 2004 (32 days) on patients/care-givers/accompanying persons (Priority 3 - non-urgent/not serious cases) who attended the AED for various reasons. A total of 398 respondents participated in the study. Results Most of the respondenta were Bruneian (88.9%) with the rest consisting of permanent residents 4.6% and expatriates (7.2%). The majority of respondents were in the age group between 16 to 45 years (32.8%). Reasons for going the AED RIPAS hospital included complete facilities (Radiology, Laboratory and etc, 87.7%), provision of a 24 hours service (89.8%), patients' perception of their illnesses being serious (81.9%), more comprehensive check-ups (66%) and less traffic leading to the AED at certain times of the day (61.2%). Interestingly, some were unaware of available specified health services in their area and that extended services were available in Ong Sum Ping Health Centre. Conclusion A majority of responders attended the AED for various reasons. Patient education is important to increase awareness so that priority 3 cases can be directed to peripheral clinics to reduce congestions at the AED RIPAS Hospital.

This paper investigates the antenatal care (ANC) services utilization in currently pregnant women during their visits to maternal and child health (MCH) clinics of rural (Kinabatangan) and urban (Sandakan), Sabah. A community clinic based, cross-sectional descriptive study was performed. In total, 800 currently pregnant women attending two MCH clinics, from April to September 2012, were participated using tested set questionnaires. Descriptive analysis was used for background characteristics and chi-square analysis was applied to identify the rural-urban differences among the variables.In both study areas, previous births delivered by skilled birth personnel were same. In pregnant women from rural, less income, more grand-multiparity, earlier antenatal care booking, more frequent post-natal care, more use of contraception compared to those in urban. In comparison, urban pregnant women had more anti-tetanus toxoid injection in their previous pregnancies, past history of antenatal care for at least four times, increase in household members. As this study found the differences in ANC services utilization at Rural and Urban, further study is needed to explore concrete reasons for above findings. By delivering services according to the needs of all clients, irrespective of their place of residence, it will improve ANC services utilization in both areas of Sabah and hence will improve more on existing health status of the Nation.