TAWAU, May 19 (Bernama) — Wearing the white uniform is more than a clinical routine for nurses in Sabah’s remote interior.
It is a solemn commitment demanding extraordinary courage, resilience and, at times, risking their lives and enduring experiences few would imagine.
Reflecting on 29 years in the profession, Nursing Supervisor at Kinabutan Health Clinic, Rukiah Siji, 53, described every hardship and sacrifice throughout her career as an experience beyond monetary value.
Recalling her time at Apas Balung Health Clinic, Rukiah recounted a harrowing incident when she and a medical officer were dispatched to a remote plantation in Bukit Tajam following the death of a mother who suffered severe bleeding after giving birth at home.
The trip required them to travel by boat, which rocked gently as it cut through the murky river.
Silence filled the air during the hour-long journey.
“Don’t make any noise. There are crocodiles here, the boatman suddenly said. That was one of the most frightening moments of my career,” Rukiah told Bernama.
But turning back was never an option for them.
Even when moments earlier, Rukiah had already slipped from a steep jetty staircase and plunged into the river, emerging drenched before taking that boat ride.
Yet, she said as the villagers welcomed them warmly and listened attentively to health advice, the exhaustion and fear slowly faded.
“At that moment, everything felt so worthwhile,” she said softly.
While serving at Menggatal Health Clinic in Kota Kinabalu, Rukiah said she once joined an outreach immunisation programme at a water village.
Crossing a narrow wooden bridge, disaster struck when a rotten plank gave way beneath her feet, and she plunged into thick mud during low tide and became trapped.
“I couldn’t move,” she recalled, adding that villagers eventually pulled her out using ropes.
Meanwhile, for Tawau Health Clinic chief nurse Nooraini Damping, the greatest test came not from rivers or collapsing bridges, but during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 47-year-old vividly remembers the relentless 12-hour shifts at quarantine centres, where exhaustion became part of daily life.
“There were times when only three of us were on duty. One day, dozens of plantation workers arrived for screening. Seventy tested positive. There was no time to rest, no time to eat. The work continued even after the shift ended,” she said.
But the pandemic was not the first crisis Nooraini had endured. In 2013, during the Tanduo intrusion in Lahad Datu, she was serving at a health clinic in Kunak. Fear hung heavily across Sabah’s east coast as reports of armed militants spread.
Living in government quarters at the time, she spent nights in near-total darkness after 6 pm, relying only on the dim light of a television screen to avoid drawing attention.
Still, the clinic remained open.
“Patients still needed treatment,” she said matter-of-factly.
For both women, nursing has never simply been a profession.
It is a lifelong commitment that demands emotional strength, physical endurance and an unwavering sense of duty, even when fear is unavoidable.
Their stories are among countless untold sacrifices made by healthcare workers serving deep in Sabah’s interior, far from the spotlight and often under difficult conditions.
Every year on May 12, the world celebrates International Nurses Day.
This year’s theme, Our Nurses, Our Future: Empowered Nurses Save Lives, serves as a reminder that behind every uniform is a story of courage rarely seen, but deeply felt by the communities they continue to serve.
— BERNAMA