2 months ago
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Medical scanning company, Elite Diagnostic has introduced a system of “quasi-bonding” to reduce the migration of its skilled staff.
The company provides additional training, and it helps to pay off the student loans of newly hired radiographers. It is aimed at incentivising them to stay longer with the company instead of taking up more lucrative positions overseas, acting chief executive officer Marjorie Miller disclosed.
That approach by Elite, however, doesn’t always work. She said the company has introduced a “quasi-bond” in an effort to retain its newly graduated radiographer interns from The University of the West Indies (UWI). She also disclosed that the UWI course of study has been increased from three years to four.
“What we have done for the interns that are completing their time at the end of this month, we’re actually doing a quasi-bond with them so at least we can get a longer time out of them. We can’t put a figure to the training that we’re offering, because it’s not like they are in a course where they are going to get a certificate. But we are investing our time,” Miller said in response to questions at the company’s annual general meeting in Kingston in mid-December.
She has been acting in the position of CEO following the departure of Harvey Levers who held the position for two years. The company currently has 60 staff, and operates out of three locations, two in Kingston and one at Drax Hall in St Ann.
“We are affected, like most of the diagnostic companies, because when they leave the university, they leave basically just with experience on x-ray. They take some time to get accustomed or to learn the CT and the MRIs. What we continue to experience is that we invest the time in training, and, as we are through with them and they spend a year, they’re gone,” said Miller about their departure to the USA, England or the Caribbean.
Company chairman Steven Gooden noted that the labour shortage was not unique to Elite Diagnostic, but was a challenge among multiple sectors.
“What is important is that, as we need to acknowledge it, we take steps to get ahead of it. And as Mrs. Miller said, it’s a significant focus for us and it will continue to be a focus going into 2025,” Gooden said.
Elite Diagnostic reported a net loss of $11.4 million for the first quarter of its year ending September 30, 2024, according to the company’s financial statements. This was an increase over the net loss of $5.5 million incurred in the comparable quarter of the last financial year.
However, the company’s revenue of $203 million represented a 3.4 per cent increase over the $196 million reported in the comparable quarter of the previous year.
“Our growth in revenue continued for the quarter under review, despite the unexpected downtime of two high-income-earning machines during the period,” the report said.
Last year, the company set up a group to monitor its equipment to minimise downtime and to reduce the attendant losses. Inflationary costs, however, impacted its operations with administrative expenses, excluding direct costs, rising 16 per cent to $103 million. Also, depreciation costs were flat year on year at $42 million.
“These unavoidable non-cash increases were incurred due to new rental contracts on our two Kingston locations during the quarter and additional depreciation for the new solar equipment acquired at our Liguanea branch,” the company said which ended the quarter with $46 million cash or 25 per cent lower than a year earlier.
Meanwhile Gooden said the company continues to eye Montego Bay in particular for expansion.
“We are looking at under-served markets,” said Gooden about Elite worth $500 million in capital.
English (US) ·