Moreover, it could also fetch valuable foreign exchange as the largest demand for medical transcription work is from the Mecca of global IT industry -- the US.

A recent market survey has projected the value of medical transcription market in the US at $90-100 billion. With US firms unable to handle the volume of work, hospitals and insurance companies are looking at other countries particularly developing nations to distribute these transcription activities through remote processing. It is estimated that demand for medical transcription remote processing is worth $9 billion or Rs 4,000 crore. India could corner a significant portion of this market because of the superior skills of itscomputer-literate undergraduates and post-graduates.

In the US, medical reports of patients are recorded by doctors into a dictaphone. This information, which is in the form of voice data, is converted into text data. This conversion from voice to textual data is known as medical transcription. "Transcribers have to patiently listen and key in the data simultaneously into the computers. But it is not the usual data entry work for publishing or data processing," Jacob T Mathew, managing director of Jayvee Computer Services and Exports, which is launching a three-month (450-hour) course in medical transcription in association with a US firm in July.

Accuracy is important for which the operators doing remote processing of voice has to come to grips with the nuances of American accent. US firms insist on 97 per cent accuracy or above as it is vital for diagnostics and insurance claims. Therefore, penalty is imposed by US firms for errors in transcription work as they could prove costly for them.

"We have alarge requirement for medical transcriptionists and most of them are being trained in-house," according to Lalaji, managing director of Seaview Support Systems engaged in medical, legal and business transcription work here at Technopark. An entrepreneur wishing to start medical transcription work in the country has to have extensive contacts in the US, if the project is to become viable as majority of the work emanates from there, he added.

At present, transcription firms devote their valuable time for training raw graduates in transcription work due to lack of trained manpower in the country, according to Jacob Mathew.

Recognising the potential of this sector is 100 per cent literate Kerala. The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) is also promoting a number of medical transcription units in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. At present, two companies are engaged in this work in the state capital. M Square a software unit in Thiruvananthapuram is also planning to tap the potential ofhousewives to do medical transcription work at home. They have also developed their own medical transcription software VoiceScript.

In the post reform era, with the setting up of high speed data links in various cities in the country, medical transcription firms started springing up in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and lately Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Even as early as the 1970s Indians have been chosen for remote processing of data particularly by publishing companies in Europe capitalising on competitive manpower and skill in the country.

It is therefore not surprising that the country has become the ideal choice for medical transcription work also, Jacob Mathew said.