INDIA - Why medical transcription is such a major draw
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Posted By:
sm. on 2005-08-20
The medical transcription business is drawing people from other sectors. That’s because the income can be quite substantial. Transcriptionists are paid anywhere between 60 paise to Rs 2.0 per line. At a minimum of 6 hours and transcribing 800 lines per day, transcriptionists can make around Rs 1,200 a day. Working 26 days a month, they earn more than Rs 30,000 (USD 450 - 500) a month. They send their reports to an Editor for proof-reading who are paid upwards of Rs 40,000 per month.
As a result, hundreds of professionals are quitting their regular jobs to assist US doctors in transcribing their conversation with patients. X-ray, pathology, surgery and discharge reports of US patients are also being transcribed out of India.
To be a transcriptionist, an aspirant has to acquire skills in medical terminology. The next step is the editor. Level three is a quality analyst (QA) who has to work out of the office of the MT firm.
It’s a daily ritual for thousands of homemakers across India. After sending husbands to work and kids to school, they download voice files and start transcribing medical illnesses of patients in the US.
Slowly, medical transcription from home is becoming a phenomenon, particularly in tier-II cities where the BPO boom hasn’t yet caught on and educated women are still not being encouraged to venture out of home.
“Almost half of our 600 home employees are women. Working from home allows them to spend more time with family,” said Mr Rajiv Shetye, VP, Spryance, a Boston-based medical transcription firm which now has 1,200 employees in India.
According to estimates, India has about 100 medical transcription companies and the big ones include Accusis, Spryance, Stheris and Heartland. About 10,000 people work in the $120 million-strong industry.
Still, there is a lot of untapped potential. The US market for market transcription is about $12 bn per annum, which is more than double the BPO exports of India. More than 700 million hospital events need to be recorded every year. According to Nasscom, about 1.6 lakh such transcriptionists will be needed in India by 2008. Earnings depend on how much time a person is able to devote. Billing is based on the number of lines transcribed.
HARSIMRAN SINGH
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