Malaysia pulled off a victorious bid against Taiwan and New Zealand, but winning the congress is only the beginning of the journey
The World Congress of Surgery is an international flagship event for the profession of surgery worldwide, and a convention of intellectual discourse is held every two years by the International Surgical Society (ISS) in collaboration with its integrated societies, participating societies and national societies of the host country.
In August 2017, news broke that Malaysia had won the hosting rights to the 49th World Congress of Surgery in 2021. It was up against Taiwan and New Zealand.
It was a great honour for the Health Ministry of Malaysia and the College of Surgeons Academy of Medicine Malaysia – two organisations that had worked hard to bid for and win the world conference – and for Malaysia which has long been an active member the world renowned ISS.
The Health Ministry of Malaysia and the College of Surgeons Academy of Medicine Malaysia were supported by the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), the honorary consulate and advisor to Malaysian tourism in Basel, Jeffery Sandragesan, along with partners in the medical industries, host venue Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and top local universities with medical faculties, namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Recalling work done in the lead up to the successful bid, associate professor Hanafiah Harunarashid, president of the College of Surgeons Academy of Medicine Malaysia, said: “It involved a lot of hard work and preparation with MyCEB leading the way in research and doing the groundwork.
“We highlighted our strong points which included having a successful track record in organising medical and non-medical related international conferences, strong links with ISS, medical professionals in Malaysia who are well known worldwide and would build trust in Malaysia. Noor Hisham, the director-general of Health Malaysia for instance, is a council member on the ISS executive board.”
During the bid presentation, Hanafiah said the team highlighted various winning points of Malaysia – that it is a safe country, politically stable, has good infrastructure, facilities and transportation system, and is a value-for-money destination.
While the bid has been won, Hanafiah stressed that there is still a lot of work to be done leading up to the congress.
Delegate boosting activities must be conducted to raise the profile of the conference among the surgical fraternity worldwide.
Sponsorship must be secured to ensure that the event makes a healthy profit. While national and regional economic climates might be soft, Hanafiah remains confident in obtaining sponsorship.
“As long as we start early in getting corporate sponsorship, we should not have a problem. As this is a world congress, corporate sponsors will want to be part of this prestigious event,” he said.
As well, the bid committee must fulfil its promise on delivering the best World Congress of Surgery ever, and prove that Malaysia is indeed a country of diversity and cultural harmony.
Hanafiah intends to engage different surgical societies to be part of the organising committee.
Event 49th World Congress of Surgery 2021
Organiser International Surgical Society and the College of Surgeons Academy of Medicine Malaysia
Date September 2021
Venue Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
No. of attendees Around 5,000
Challenges
Having a strong strategy to win the bid; delegate boosting efforts to bring in the targeted 5,000 attendees; securing sponsors to ensure a profitable congress amid soft national and regional economic climates
