 |
 |
| Reference Material |
| RP TO GET 122,000 JOBS FOR MEDICAL TRANSCRIBERS By Ernesto Herrera, gen-sec of the TUCP March 10, 2006 The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) expects jobs growth in outsourced medical transcription services to outpace considerably the 25-percent annual employment expansion in the country�s booming call centers. Former senator and TUCP general secretary Ernesto Herrera said medical transcription jobs are projected to surge at an average annual rate of 90 percent this year through 2010. At this rate, he said the country would have up to 122,000 fully engaged medical transcribers in four years. "The growth of medical transcription services is guaranteed, as long as we have enough professional transcribers readily available," Herrera pointed out. He said the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Labor and Employment should encourage graduates of nursing, pharmacy, medical technology, public health and allied medical courses to consider medical transcription work. "Nursing fresh graduates, for instance, can work part-time or full-time as medical transcribers while reviewing for the licensure examination, while awaiting the test results, or pending an overseas job contract," Herrera said. "It does not matter if they eventually go abroad, as long as our labor market has a steady supply of potential substitute transcribers," he added. Herrera also prodded tertiary schools to link up with medical transcription firms so that the potential skills of students could be tested prior to possible training-recruitment. Meanwhile, the former senator urged the agencies concerned to develop a responsive certification program for medical transcribers. The local medical transcription industry expects $126 million in revenues this year, up 80 percent from $70 million in 2005. Revenues are anticipated to hit $238 million in 2007, $476 million in 2008, $952 million in 2009 and $1.71 billion by 2010, according to the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc. As of December 2005, business process outsourcing contractors that specialize in medical transcription employed 5,000 Filipinos. This is seen to increase to 9,000 by the end of this year; 17,000 by 2007; 34,000 by 2008; 68,000 by 2009; and 122,000 by 2010. Medical transcription is the process of transforming voice-recorded or hand-written medical reports, such as dictation of physicians and hospital records, to text matter that may be stored as printed or electronic data. In developed countries, electronic medical records are the preferred means of data storage, giving medical professionals access to information regardless of location. Herrera said the U.S. medical transcription services market alone is worth $25 billion, and more jobs there are being offshored to the Philippines, where cost-effective labor is ample. ***** |