A medical transcription service involves transcribing digital audio files sent by doctors from abroad into word documents, and sending it back through the internet. Like call centres it is a job outsourced from a foreign country to another country where the cost of human labour is cheaper.

Of more than 500 graduates and Class 12 students interviewed over three months, only 39 got through the selection interview to train for the job.

Tests for the interviewees included essay writing, grammar, comprehension, listening skills and an oral interview.

“The interview itself was the most basic requirement, which most candidates failed to fulfill,” said the firm’s spokesperson and former business partner. Of the six partners, five have reportedly pulled out.

“The main thing here is that this business is not a mechanised industry, it is entirely human resource based,” said the spokesperson. “It is labour intensive.”

He said that the firm needed 80 people to start off with. They would be trained for six months by professionals hired from India to become certified medical transcriptionists who would be recognised globally.

“While the training alone is going to cost us about Nu. 3.00 million, the entire project is expected to cost about Nu. 30 million,” he said.

A few interviewees, however, said that the Bhutan Business Solutions had one of the most stringent selection procedures.

The chairperson and the managing director of Bhutan Steel Industries limited, Damchae Dem, who is continuing with the venture, said the interviews couldn’t be easy given the high standards required by C-Bay, a medical transcription centre based in USA.

The medical transcription as a profession was highly specialised with two percent being the acceptable percentage of error in the transcriptions. The transcripts again go through a whole process of cleaning.

Damchae Dem said that more awareness was needed among the youth on the requirements of the job. “Now that the firm’s logistics are all ready, more awareness on the business will be created during the graduates orientation programme sometime this August,” she said. “I am anticipating the graduates to be more interested. It’s going to be an interesting package altogether for them.”

Besides a higher salary than any government or corporate organisation, the selected and trained candidates would be equipped with the ability to type with sufficient speed allowing them to make more money in less time, said one of firm’s former business partners.

As the sole person willing to carry the business forward, Damchae Dem said a joint effort from the government and other organisations was important because “it had much promise for employment opportunities”.

“When this company kicks off, it will be the cleanest business ever because the only raw materials used in it would be human resources,” Damchae Dem told Kuensel.

According to the firm’s spokesperson, C-Bay, USA gets the transcription contracts from abroad and C-Bay, India, sets up the transcription centres in India. C-Bay India would set up the transcription centre in Bhutan.

He said that audio files recorded by doctors in the US would be sent to the firm at the end of the day, which would be morning in Bhutan because of the time difference. The firm would then transcribe the files verbatim and send it back through the internet.

India already has about 37 medical transcription centres.