The Hindu Business Line : Healthcare-related outsourcing to drive IT, BPO growth

High growth segment
Scope e-Knowledge Center Pvt Ltd has a team of doctors and paramedical staff besides specialists in 16 distinct areas.
Employees of Ajuba International undergo certified programmes from the AAHAM.
Patni Computer Systems is into medical hardware development and medical imaging.

Chennai , Oct. 19

Medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical (MHCP) related outsourcing is expected to drive growth of information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, with these industries increasingly outsourcing high-end services.

This trend is not only pushing up revenues for the IT and BPO companies but also generating employment.

Traditionally, medical insurance claims processing and digitising patient health records (medical transcription) were outsourced to India. Today, IT and BPO companies also handle high-end services like clinical data analytics, biometric services and medical engineering.

Mr Vardhman Jain, Managing Director, Perot Systems-Business Process Solutions, India, said customers in the BPO space are outsourcing more complex, longer-term, mission critical projects.

This activity has made MHCP the fastest growing area for IT, ITES and BPO companies. Though companies did not share information on their revenues, they indicated that revenues have been growing by at least 20 per cent (year-on-year) for the last three years.

More jobs

Opening up of the MHCP sector is expected to create more jobs in future. A report by India Brand Equity Foundation and Ernst and Young said healthcare BPO will employ about two lakh people by 2008. Industry estimates forecast about 10 lakh jobs available by 2010, including three lakh in knowledge process outsourcing. At present about 20,000 people work in the MHCP space.

Graduates with degrees in life sciences including chemistry, microbiology, biotechnology and medicine are preferred. Scope e-Knowledge Center Pvt Ltd has a team of doctors and paramedical staff besides specialists in 16 distinct areas such as cardiology and gynaecology. Cognizant Technology Solutions employs over 4,500 domain and technology professionals besides doctors, clinicians, pharmacologists, bio-statisticians and medical writers.

Other graduates with good communication skills and typing speed can also work in this area because companies train employees in domain skills.

For instance, employees of Ajuba International undergo certified programmes from the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management. Such certifications have resulted in employees specialising within the MHCP area, as is the case with Zavata India Private Ltd.

Patni Computer Systems initially developed applications for medical devices and over the last three years has ventured into medical hardware development, industrial design, systems engineering and medical imaging. "Today we handle the entire product life cycle - from ideation to deployment," said Mr Ajay Chamania, Senior Vice President - Product Engineering Services, Patni Computer Systems.

More Stories on : Outsourcing | Outsourcing

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
IMD declares onset of N-E monsoon

`Unionise call centre employees'

23 Indian cos in Forbes Asia list of `best under a billion'

Reliance Petro spends Rs 4,054 cr on refinery project

Reliance net rises 9 pc to Rs 2,709 cr

Petrochem comes to Reliance rescue

Ranbaxy net rises seven-fold

HDFC net up 23% in Q2

Stock markets may light up, post-Diwali

Shree Cements: Riding infrastructure boom

UP mills to be served notice for excess sugar sale