HSBC Deputy Chairman and CEO Zarir J. Cama presenting the RM3,000 mock cheque to Thuan Ngee (centre) and Priyia (left)

Although they missed the grand prize of RM15,000 and a tour to Seatle, USA, Tan Thuan Ngee and Priyia Pusparajah brought home the judges?award of the HSBC Young IT Entrepreneurs Awards 2003. With an impressive entry in their CVs already (trust us, it beats being ‘worker of the month?of some fast food joint!), they talk to doctorjob's Courses NOW! about their journey to the finals.

Courses NOW! What made you decide to take part in the HSBC Young IT Entrepreneurs Awards?
Thuan Ngee (TN) I wanted a different experience and the awards gave me a chance to do something that is not related to the medical school curriculum.

Priyia (PY) My partner (Thuan Ngee) told me about it, and suggested that we take part. At that point, we just thought there was no harm in just sending in something…we really never expected to get through to the next round. It was just for the fun of doing something different ? sometimes medicine gets a bit monotonous, and you're so wrapped in it all the time (right now, I actually dream about the O&G wards every night), it just seemed like a good opportunity to think about something different for a while. 

CN! How did you come up with the business idea? What or who inspired you?
TN I've been using a PDA for quite some time now, and I find it very helpful when I go to the wards and can't carry many books with me. The PDA helped me a great deal in my studies. So, I guess the contest was just a way of promoting this concept of PDAs in medicine. I got my own PDA after seeing some of my lecturers using their own PDAs and how much they have helped them with their day-to-day clinical practice.

PY It just evolved naturally ?Thuan Ngee has had his handheld device for some time and it really was a handy tool in the wards ?especially when you wanted some information about a particular disease, or check up some funny drug (patients usually remember the trade name rather than the generic one ?if they remember at all), or make use of his medical calculator for things like calculating the adjusted dose of certain drugs for patients with impaired renal function or calculating the corrected calcium level?and given how much we felt we could benefit from the usage of handheld devices (with the relevant software, of course) we just thought it might actually be a viable business idea. Besides, a lot of our course mates and even some of our lecturers were impressed by how much it could help in the wards. 

CN! What was to you the most difficult part of the competition? Why?
TN Round 2, no doubt. As medical students, Priyia and I had to do a lot of research to write our business plan as this is very unfamiliar territory for us. Also throughout the competition, we also had to balance our clinical student responsibilities (exams, project etc) and still find time for the competition.

PY Finding the time to get the business plan written out. The first and second rounds fell within our term time and juggling our schedule to fit in the work for the awards was a bit more awkward than we anticipated ?especially when the workshop for the second round was held during the week of the final clinical exams.

HSBC Deputy Chairman and CEO Zarir J. Cama with all the winners of the awards.

CN! Can you describe the part which you like best about your business idea?
TN I like the part where I can help doctors to manage patients better, in short, help them to become better doctors (if the concept of handheld medicine takes off). So, indirectly, I’m helping patients too.

PY I just liked the fact that it seemed like a genuinely viable business idea and we knew from personal experience how much difference it made to have a reference to so many things in your pocket. Without a PDA, I had to jot down drug names and stuff to look up back in my room or in the library when I clerked patients on my own but if Thuan Ngee was around I could just look it up right in the wards on his palm. The point here would be that we believed that this was an idea that could really increase the efficiency and give an overall boost to the job performance of all doctors. We felt it could potentially benefit the healthcare system on the whole.

CN! If you were given the chance to do things differently, would you? Which part? Why?
TN I've no regrets and I’m glad I took part in this competition with Priyia as the experience and exposure we obtained are invaluable.

PY No, I wouldn't. I think we already gave the contest our best shot and we were already really happy that we actually qualified for the finals, particularly when we have practically no business background whatsoever. Almost all the presentations we do start with something along the lines of ‘My patient is Mdm so and so, a 35 year old Malay lady who presented to UMMC yesterday with a chief complaint of painless per vaginal bleed which began 2 days prior to admission etc?so this was something totally different yet related. 

CN! What are some of the lessons that you've learned from the awards?
TN How to write a good business plan and in preparation for our presentation in round three, we attended a presentation skills workshop organised by HSBC. I know the skills I picked up would be useful in our future careers as doctors. Besides that, based on research we had to do, we also found out more about handheld medicine and how it is changing the practice of medicine for the better.

PY Lessons learned? I learned that life always has a knack of throwing you an unexpected bend in the road. I think the best thing I got out of the competition was that practising for the final round really gave me a good chance to sharpen my presentation skills which I believe would be useful for my future career.

CN! Any advice you’d like to give to future participants?
TN Try your best and don't give up hope. After all, nothing's impossible –who would have expected medical students to get into the final round? Even we didn't think that was possible!

PY Basically, if you feel you have a good idea, just give it a shot. And, don't forget to have fun.

Source: Business Courses NOW Issue 5, Page 44 & 45.