The neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the Maternity Hospital Kuala Lumpur (MHKL) was frequently understaffed and overcrowded. A separate special care nursery (called K5) was set up in July 1991 for the purpose of providing non-intensive neonatal care for infants. Mothers were simultaneously admitted and they provided a major bulk of feeding and nursing care. Case records for 2 months prior to and 2 months after opening of the ward were studied. The average duration of hospital stay per neonate was shorter in the later period (9.18 days vs 11.05 days, p < 0.05). Also the very low birth weight infants (VLBW) gained weight faster (28 grams a day) compared to similar infants in the earlier period (22 grams a day, p < 0.05).