WHO decides on Malaysia

Star: PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has been selected as the host country for the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Services Centre.
Located in Cyberjaya, the centre will handle all of WHO's back room operations. The estimated 200 staff required at the centre by the end of 2008 will be mostly Malaysians.
WHO assistant director Namita Pradhan said that although all 192 member countries had been potential host sites, the Philippines, India and Malaysia were short-listed.
“An independent committee evaluated what was on offer, what was going to be made available and chose Malaysia as the best location,” she said at the signing ceremony at the Health Ministry between WHO and the Malaysian Government.
Namita said the decision was based on the skills mix, salary level, costs, standard of living and whether international staff could relocate easily to the centre.
She said the centre would handle WHO’s back office work such as running the entire organisation’s payroll, processing transactions and procurements. She said 90% of the staff would be Malaysians.
“We are committed on our part. We will do our best to upgrade their skills,” she said, adding that this included training them locally as well as in Geneva for four to six weeks.
The centre would start work in the second week of January with a small contingent of 26.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said in his speech that Malaysia was honoured.
“Cyberjaya was chosen because it's Malaysia's 'Silicon Valley' and the infrastructure there has the latest technology with fibre optic cabling in each building providing connectivity to all parts of the world,” he said.
The single global system will link 147 countries, including six regional offices and the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
It is estimated that by the end of 2008, local staff would number 200, with about 15 to 20 WHO officials, Dr Chua said.