Today's article in the Tech section of NST paints a rosy picture of the outsourcing industry as Malaysia is considered one of the more preferred country for this sort of business in the world (study done by Frost and Sullivan). Although the job is stressful and highly competitive, as was told to me by my patients, outsourcing really took off with the advent of the internet and fibreoptic cabling which sparked a new collaboration between America and other third world countries, in particular India. It is mostly taken up by young people, who do not mind working nights. Training for the post is stringent. Although they speak English but in their own accent, they were trained to speak in American or British accents, depending on which country they were assigned to. Some will take up common Western names like Thomas and Paul and Janet to help them better relate to their clients. When I have problems with my Ipaq PocketPC, I will just call up the toll free HP service centre based in Bangalore, India and the technicians there, who caters for clients in Msia, Singapore and the Philippines are usually very forthcoming in providing their assistance. What impressed me most is that they will just call me back a few days later to check if everything is ok (perhaps I should do the same for my patients). As in many Asian culture, many of these employees will apportion part of their salaries to their parents, while some will take day classes to aim for higher qualification and hopefully better pay one day.
We must be prepared to change and adapt, so says Thomas Friedman, the author of No.1 bestseller The World Is Flat. Globalisation is the trend because the world is shrinking. The playing field is flattened, and competition is thrown wide open. We must be reminded that multinational companies, like greedy individuals, will push for lower cost and increased productivity. Certain countries like China and Vietnam are much preferred because their goods are cheaper due to abundant and cheap labour. Even some traditional business in America, like the cotton mills, are closing down because of this globalisation effect.
Ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall (and communism), the world had to depend on only one system, capitalism. Unfortunately, capitalism has its nasty flaws. It can make some people very rich, and some very poor. However, people who are ignorant will not survive, especially if they are slow to respond to market forces, are not competitive and not in-sync with global trends. Even in the beautiful city of Dalian, China where major corporations like Microsoft, HP, Sony and Dell have set up bases there, university grads, especially those in the IT line, were told to take up a year of study of English to improve communication.
In the medical line, Mr Friedman cited an example of the use of high speed internet connection to transmit radiological images from a hospital in America to a country half the world away, with a 12 hour time difference, to be interpreted by their on call radiologist who can provide an urgent diagnosis when most of the radiologists in America are sleeping at night. I think the same could be done for blood test and pathological specimen report. However, in all these cases, clinical correlation based on physical findings of the patient is very important. Furthermore, the administrators must address the question of online information security.
So, where do we fit in this globalised world? Globalisation doesn't mean going to a Western country and having to eat Western food everyday. In fact, its exactly the opposite. With outsourcing and homesourcing, the workers can stay put, keep in touch with family and friends and continue to enjoy local food and entertainment at a fraction of a cost. Its not like we are katak di bawah tempurung. In fact, Friedman says that if all the frogs living in their particular well were to be able to connect from one well to another, they will have greater feedom.
And, while we continue to seek out greener pastures to improve our living conditions, we must not be too comfortable with life in this world. Our real home is heaven (not a heavenly home but really in heaven!). The emotional believer will say that heaven is so real to him or her now while the sceptic will ask 'Izzit really? Are we anywhere closer to heaven?'
I am just taking the middle ground. There will always be questions like Is there really a heaven? Who is going there and what will it be like? What will I do there? Why should I think about it while I'm still on earth? I believe if you have a deep relationship with God, you will sometimes want to think about it. In the meantime, I have just browsed thru the book written by C.S. Lewis called The Great Divorce about a group of people who took a day trip by bus to the kingdom of heaven. Here is a glimpse of what they saw about how solid and real heaven is, thanks to Lewis' wonderful imagination:
I got out. The light and coolness that drenched me were like those of summer morning, early morning a minute or two before the sunrise, only that there was a certain difference......
It was the light, the grass, the trees that were different; made of some different substance, so much solider than things in our country......
I saw people coming to meet us. Because they were bright I saw them while they were still very distant ...... the earth shook under their tread as their strong feet sank into the wet turf. A tiny haze and a sweet smell went up where they had crushed the grass and scattered the dew ...... the robes did not disguise the massive grandeur of muscle and the radiant smoothness of flesh ...... no one struck me as being of any particular age. One gets glimpses even in our country of that which is ageless - heavy thought in the face of an infant, and frolic childhood in that of an old man. Here it was all like that.
