This is the fourth straight week I am writing on Medical Transcription. As I mentioned in the past issues, there is a very high demand for Medical Transcriptionists and it takes only an intensive four months training to become one. Also, the pay is good especially after the first 6 months of probationary status as an employee.

All a trainee needs is proficiency in English which in MT means the ability to encode correctly what one hears. This is essentially an audio file of a dictation of an American doctor or a doctor in Britain, Canada or Australia.

The clients of an MT company are, obviously clinics or hospitals primarily in the US.

Instead of having their dictation put into written form by an American MT and filed in a computer in the US, these are transmitted to the MT company in the Philippines where labor is much cheaper than in the US. (The labor cost here is only about 1/7 that of the US).

Now, a question to pose is: where can a certified MT from Eastern Visayas seek employment.

There are business groups in the region who are interested in investing in MT but are still worried about the supply of MTs and getting clients from the US. (By the way, in the US there are many MTs who do their work at home – they are called, what else – Home-Based MTs).

So, there is no employment prospect in Eastern Visayas yet, but there are already around 50 MT companies in the Philippines, mostly located in Metro Manila while some are in Cebu, Davao, Naga, and Bagiuo.

Therefore, as of this time if one becomes an MT through a training program in Region VIII (some colleges and universities will offer short courses on MT starting the second semester of this school year), employment will be available in the places mentioned above, not yet in Eastern Visayas.

Later, they can come back to Region VIII, possibly after 2 years when an MT company would most probably be set up here.