Last Monday, May 29, two important milestones were achieved in the generation of employment opportunities in the Information and Communications Technology field of Medical Transcription in Eastern Visayas.

In the morning of that day, nine state colleges and universities and four private schools attended a Symposium on Medical Transcription: the Role of Educational Institutions.

In the afternoon, fifteen businessmen from Tacloban City attended a Business Forum on Medical Transcription.

Both of these events are linked because Medical Transcription (MT) as an industry needs qualified Medical Transcriptionists. The MT companies that will be set up in Region VIII (most probably at the ICT Park of the Province of Leyte) will require a steady and reliable pool of MTs.

What employment figures can be estimated on MT?

Currently, there is a very low supply of MTs nationwide. The DOLE has estimated the gap to run into thousands of employment prospects even today and the demand is growing at about 15% per year.
Medical Transcription is an industry where a Medical Transcriptionist in the Philippines transcribes (or transfers an audio file, like a tape recording) to a written record. This way the dictation made by a doctor in the U.S. is listened to by the MT in the Philippines and who encodes it using a computer and sends this written report back to the doctor usually within eight hours.

An MT does not necessarily have to be a nurse or a doctor. What is more important is being proficient in English that is, in being able to understand what the doctors is saying (on his Dictaphone) and quickly encoding his words into written form.

There are computer programs which would enable anyone who is not a graduate of a degree in any medical course to become MTs through proper training.

But focusing on these courses alone shows that the 15 schools offering nursing courses in Region VIII may already be a substantial source of MTs. (These schools produce at least 700 graduates in a year).
My personal estimate is that around 12 schools will be offering MT training starting October and by this time next year we will have at least 1,000 MTs who can be employed in any MT company in the Philippines or probably even work abroad as an MT.

At a starting salary of P9,000 – that’s P9 million in income per month or P108 million per year.
And this is being conservatives because any student or graduate of any other field can enter MT training such as Mass Communications and Education.

The significant impact the MT will have as our economy is certain.