Melorita is known for quality and service in manpower recruitment and staffing in Saudi Arabia, developed through sheer hard work and determination despite many obstacles over the past 30 years.

“Today, Melorita’s clients include very reputable organizations in the Kingdom including Saudi Aramco, National Guard Health Affairs, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, SFH Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and Aviation Hospitals, Ministry of Health, King Fahd Medical City, King Abdul Aziz University Hospital, King Khalid University Hospital, Advanced Electronics Company (AEC) and many others,” said the 62-year-old Mohamed Sultan, Melorita founder and chairman who retired on May 1 as CEO.

Armand Abdullah, 35, was appointed CEO and the managing director to steer Melorita with great vigor and to reach greater heights.

Melorita’s beginnings go back to the late 1970s when Mohamed Sultan, Melorita founder and present chairman, visited Jeddah (in response to an advertisement in the local newspaper for nursing personnel) to convince King Abdul Aziz University Hospital (KAUH) authorities that Malaysians (and Singaporean) nurses are as good as , if not better than, their Western counterparts.

In advancing the case of Malaysians as global nurses, the Malaysians stood to receive 60 to 70 percent higher salary than other ASEAN and non-Western nationals working in Saudi Arabia. This also meant receiving tax-free salaries 3 to 4 times than what they were receiving back home.

This task was not easy (especially during the 1970s/early 80s) when Malaysia was not well -known to the world.

Melorita was fortunate to present its case to a very open-minded hospital director and deputy dean of the medical faculty, Dr. Osama Shobokshi, (who later became the president of the King Abdul Aziz University, then Saudi minister of health and now the Saudi ambassador to Germany) who decided to visit Malaysia with a team and interviewed Malaysian nurses and confirmed Melorita’s claim that they are as good as their Western counterparts.

Melorita passed the crucial test and its wish to place Malaysian nurses on “Western status” was granted, much to the envy of others.

The Malaysian nursing personnel that worked in KAUH, Jeddah, over the next 10 years proved their worth and established a reputation for Malaysian nurses as highly skilled, capable and caring. With the growing shortage of nurses in the Western world in the mid-80s, other Saudi hospitals and health agencies made similar visits to Melorita and likewise the National Guard Health Affairs, SFH Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and Aviation (MODA) hospitals, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center and others followed suit to provide “Western Status” to Malaysians.

For the first 25 years of Melorita’s involvement in Saudi Arabia, it had been exclusively in the health care sector. In the last five years or so, the oil and gas, telecommunications, construction, engineering, finance, IT, travel and other sectors have been added to Melorita’s recruitment portfolio.

In line with the needs of the company to forge ahead in multiple sectors, a second echelon of leaders have been developed.

Armand Abdullah, 35, was appointed as the managing director and CEO to steer Melorita. “The last 30 years have been an interesting and fruitful journey for Melorita in its quest to promote globally Malaysians, accepted as capable and competent professionals in areas of service and industries where previously only Western expatriates occupied,” Sultan said.

Today in the Saudi health care sector, there are Malaysian medical consultants, directors of nursing, supervisors, head nurses and staff nurses, medical technologists, physiotherapists and hospital administrative staff.

“We are very grateful to Saudi Arabia for the opportunity given to Malaysians. The generous salaries and benefits received impacted thousands of Malaysians and their families to have a better financial status and quality of life,” the chairman said.

In addition to the billions of ringgits remitted to Malaysia, many Malaysians have experienced tremendous personal and professional growth. In particular, the Muslims have benefited a great deal spiritually by virtue of easy accessibility to the Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah to perform Umrah.

Malaysians working in Saudi Arabia, while rendering valuable professional services overseas, could be considered to be on a mission of personal gain: bread gain and brain gain for the country (as opposed to brain drain as they all return to the country with added value.

The wealth of knowledge and experience gained over the years in doing business in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East has enabled Melorita to position itself in the competitive global arena to meet the increasing demand for its recruitment services in health care, oil and gas, telecommunications, construction, engineering, finance, IT, travel and other sectors in the Middle East.

Melorita, with a strong ITC infrastructure and a network of offices throughout Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and India is well- positioned to provide efficient and speedy services to all its clients.

In 2006 Melorita initiated the establishment of the Asia Pacific Health Care Academy (APHA) to offer continuing education through various short-term courses, seminars, workshops and personal coaching to enhance the knowledge and skills of professional doctors, nurses, allied health personnel and health care administrators.

The training programs of APHA are conducted by highly qualified and experienced practicing medical personnel, nurses, allied health personnel and health care administrators from Malaysia, ASEAN, Middle East, USA, Canada, UK and Australia.