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Train ëem Young A government agency and a private IT company join hands to train and employ 1500 young people By A CORRESPONDENT At a time when unemployment-- especially among the educated youth-- has emerged as a major national problem, a private information and communication technology company has come up with a noble initiative. Unlimited Numedia Pvt. Ltd., a leading IT company, has joined hands with Employment Promotion Commission (EPC), a government agency, to train at least 1500 SLC graduates as medical transcriptionists and offer them attractive job opportunities after they complete their nine-month long training (including three month long internship) successfully. According to Kiran Shakya, managing director of the Unlimited, 500 youths each will be trained in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Itahari and will later be offered job by the Company. After Himalayan Info-Tech Company failed to survive, Unlimited is the only company providing offshore medical transcription jobs to its US-based clients. Started in July last year, the Company already employs 140 people as medical transcriptionists. One of the IT-enabled services, Medical Transcription (MT) is a process of accurately transcribing dictation by medical professionals into text. It includes activities like discharge summaries, operative reports, history and physical examination, chart notes etc. Thanks to the 12 hour time zone difference, efficient English speaking population available locally and quality at low cost (MT requires 98.5 percent or higher accuracy), Nepal has a very good prospects of gaining from the MT business. ìIf we can bring in only a fraction of US$ 6 to 10 billion a year MT job that is outsourced from the US, we could benefit a lot,î said Allen B. Tuladhar, an enthusiastic CEO of the Unlimited Numedia. 'We have a contract for the next three years to provide high quality services.î Unlike the usual tendency of Nepal-bashing in almost every sphere of socio-economic life, Tuladhar insists that Nepal is best placed in terms of offering IT-enabled services, if not the high-end software products. The favorable IT policy in the country, the lowest Internet rates in South Asia and de-regulation of high speed connectivity, among others, add to Nepalís list of advantages. ìWe hope this new project would be an ideal government-private partnership model in Nepal,' said Allen. As per an understanding, EPC has agreed to provide the training fee of Rs 25,000 as interest-free loan to selected trainees which they will have to return within a year after getting the job. As they will be drawing close to Rs 10,000 per month it will not be difficult for them to pay back their loans in installments. ìThe government will not only benefit from the taxes paid by the employees, it will also have a multiplier effect in the economy,î said Allen. 'We will be giving a new generation of people with the right work ethics.' Officials too were gung ho about the new project. ìAs the government alone can't provide jobs to thousands of youths partnership between the government and private sector is a must,î said Binod Bhattarai, member-secretary of the EPC. By taking up the challenge of imparting skills to young men and women and later offering them attractive jobs, Unlimited Numedia has presented a model to many private companies. The government agencies too need to come forward to practical programs like this rather than wasting millions of rupees every year in non-descript training that fail to employ people. ìWe will encourage such programs that guaranty jobs to the trained people in different sectors and in different parts of the country,î said Dr. Shanker Sharma, member of the National Planning Commission. Though employing 1500 people a year will meet the need of only a fraction of an estimated 300,000 people that enter into the Nepalese labor market every year, at least the new venture has shown that itís better to do something for the country and society rather than blaming ourselves. Providing skills and employment is perhaps one of the most effective deterrent to insurgency. n No. of MT Companies India 80 |
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