Medical Transcriptions – a trip through a city

Medical Transcriptions – a trip through a city
 
Americans always hear about outsourcing, and it makes people upset.  Why are “our” jobs going overseas.  It is because companies can’t find qualified people “here” that will be reliable about doing the work for a reasonable price, or even for an unreasonable price.  There is a labor shortage here in America.
 
But, it is hard for people to imagine in real life what outsourcing operations really look like.  I remember a comedy video on one of our late night television shows.  An American needed tech support for his computer and wanted to go to the source. The American got on a plane with his computer and  flew to Hyderabad. He got in a rick shaw, saw people going down the street in bicycles, ox driven carts, cars, buses, etc.  There was pollution everywhere.. Finally, after a long drive down a filthy and congested road, there was a beautiful modern looking office building.  Our American friend walked in the building, went up the stairs, and met a nice Indian girl who helped him fix his problem.  The technical support session took only ten minutes, and the problem was solved.  I believe he likes the girl and asks her to lunch, and she politely declines.  It was a fun video. If the man had been more educated on Indian culture, he would have asked the girl’s mother for permission to marry the girl and THEN asked the girl to have lunch with him. There is an order to these things in India.
 
I remember taking a long rick shaw ride down small roads on my way to a medical transcription and software programming house. One road had pot holes riddling the road for two blocks.  The rick shaw went all the way around each one and had to grind to a stop several times. The last several minutes of the trip included a trip past a block that was vacant and completely covered with garbage.  I can’t believe that people live next to this filth, but they do.  After that, we got into an affluent residential neighborhood.  There was a young man around 18 years old washing the bosses car.  He washed the car every day and got chai for everyone.  250 rupees later, I had reached my destination.  I went up the stairs that were spattered with drops of paint.  I guess that it is against the law in Tamil Nadu to use a drop cloth, and painting the leaves of the trees is customary there too. The room was filled with nicely dressed ladies wearing selwar kurtas, and a few young men. They worked in crampt conditions in a nice room with 10 foot high ceilings — all glued to their computers typing away.
 
All I can say is that I am glad I don’t do Medical Transcriptions in India, or anything else there.  I like clean air, and I like having my space.  I have my own room to work in and peace and quiet. On the other hand, I am happy that India is moving up in the world and getting lots of Medical Transcription outsourcing jobs from various sources.