Case Study on Medical Transcription in Bangladesh

Abhijit completed his Masters in Pharmacy from the second finest state-owned university in Bangladesh. He applied for a Government job through the Public Services Commission and received a posting as a Hospital Pharmacist at Moulvibazar, Sylhet. Full of youthful enthusiasm and stamina, he went to the place of his job, far from his home and normal surroundings, only to find bureaucracy and mismanagement, combined with greed and bribe culture. He gave up this job within a year and joined a private pharmaceutical company named Zoobies. It is this company which helped him to develop his skills as he worked in product management, medical services and finally in sales teams training and development. Following his flair for new business opportunities, Abhijit has been watching a senior friend, Samsul Hossain, struggling with a business in the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) field for the last few years. Abhijit has been thinking if they could do something together. They both have expertise in two complementary areas and they both want to develop something on their own.

The business of Medical Transcription (MT) falls in the category of ICT Enabled Services (ITES). Medical Transcription is the process whereby one swiftly and accurately transcribed medical records dictated by doctors and health care professionals. In developed countries like USA, Canada, UK and the like, most doctors or medical consultants who visit and diagnose patients usually dictate the report of their patients on a Dictaphone. Because they are usually busy, the doctors cannot type the reports themselves and they have to depend on others for a well-prepared electronic report. The task of composing voice dictation into a typed text format is described as medical data transcription. Material transcribed includes patient's history, physical reports, clinical notes, operative reports, consultation notes, discharge summaries, lab reports, pathology reports and other similar types of medical records.

In the beginning of this job, the hospitals had the MTs under full time employment and they developed their expertise by becoming accustomed to the voice, accent and nature of the doctors they transcribed for. This type of one-on-one or one-for-few doctors arrangement with MTs still exists and is said to be the most effective. But as more and more cost saving objectives set in, the hospitals started to outsource this job to companies dedicated for this purpose, better known as MTSOs. When outsourced, the soundtracks of this dictation are changed into digital form and then sent to MTSOs in the US.

Addressing his focus in human development, Abhijit is thinking of setting up a MT business in Bangladesh. His concern over the numerous educated but unemployed youth, combined with observing the operations of Samsul`s company up close, has led him to believe that MT has very good potential in Bangladesh. But there are problems, not only in the financing and marketing of such an organization but mostly in the infrastructure and human resources development for such a new venture. As it is, ICT is a new sector in the country and Bangladesh's PESTLE (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) factors are not yet adapted to provide a good ground for such a business to succeed.

Abhijit is sure that Medical Transcription has multiple growth opportunities in Bangladesh. The same competitive factors that are leading companies to outsource software developments to India are in operation in Bangladesh too. But it is essential to develop the ICT Infrastructure and the required human resources for this business. He is not yet sure whether this sector will become a booming sector like the ready-made garments but one thing he was sure that it has a lot of 'potentiality', meaning he could not leave it unexplored.

He sat back in his chair and saw a young face look up at his office glass wall with hope in his eyes. A hope of finding a job which will take care of his family who have paid for his graduation with the sweat of their brows. These are the young people who would someday become successful MTs and pave the way for this global opportunity to come to Bangladesh. Abhijit had to do something before this opportunity went away to knock at some other door. Yet he had seen a lot of good ideas become wasted due to the lack of proper planning. So, he wants to be as sure as possible of its success before he enters into such a venture. The question in his mind now: MT business in Bangladesh - to be or not to be?

Hints:

Analyse the ICT and healthcare sector in Bangladesh

Business feasibility analysis

A survey if the market is ready

Deliverables:

1. A competitive analysis on the industry (What are the complications the company might face)

2. Find out the strategies to overcome the complications that the company might face and way forward.

3. A final decision for Mr. Abhijit whether he should or not go for it with a logical explanation.