The first hospital in the Metaverse will open its doors in October, according to UAE. Thumbay Group will be in charge of running the medical Metaverse. Thumbay, a healthcare company, has already begun working on the project. Patients can use avatars to visit this fully functional virtual hospital. They can communicate with doctors through avatars as well.
The president and founder of Thumbay Group is Dr. Thumbay Moideen.
“We are already working on it and expect it to launch before October this year. This will be a complete virtual hospital where people will come with an avatar and consult with the doctor. To cater to medical tourism, we will allow patients to see what the hospital looks like in the metaverse if they travel and come to Thumbay healthcare facility.”
The Thumbay Group provides long-term care patients who have undergone surgery for at least six months, are bedridden or are paralyzed with augmented reality and virtual reality metaverse technology.
The virtual hospital also strives to assist individuals in other ways. For instance, those who are permanently disabled.
“The hospital is giving them AR and VR headsets so that they can see their homes. For example, a Sri Lankan person has been with us for a long period of time who was paralyzed after a car accident and all of his sensory motions are gone but only his brain is functioning. He can experience and virtually visit his room in Sri Lanka through AR and VAR technology. This motivates long-term care patients and gives them hope that they can go back to their country.”
Thumbay stated that although a choice had not yet been made regarding payment, it would probably be consistent with the teleconsultation cost charged by the healthcare operator. The vice president of Thumbay Group explained that the company incorporates artificial intelligence into the hospital system, where the cameras would first recognize the patient’s car number plate as he enters the facility and subsequently his face.