Your avatar can now do it for you if you feel too weak to get up and see a doctor.
In the coming months, a medical facility in the metaverse will be launched in the United Arab Emirates to allow patients to consult doctors and receive treatment using avatars.
Healthcare company Thumbay Group will lead the groundbreaking rites for the UAE’s first hospital in the metaverse next October, a senior official announced on Wednesday.
This facility will be a fully functional virtual hospital where the patients can visit using a custom digital representation of themselves in a computer generated 3D world.
Recommended literature | FTX Big Boss Says The Harmful Part Of The Crypto Calamity Is Over
Just you, your avatar and the doctor
It’s all about your avatar doing the work virtually, meaning less physical movement (being stuck in traffic, included) and no one touching any part of your body to know what’s going on with you.
The venture does indeed sound a bit distant, but it seems like there’s always a new kind of venture taking shape in the metaverse these days: clothing store, real estate agencies, shoe brands, concert halls, football stadiums, new avatars, and even weddings. Name it, the metaverse will have it.
Your avatar will soon be the one interacting with doctors. Image: Aimedis
The Thubay group said they will focus on long-term care for patients, especially those who are permanently disabled. The company provides bedridden patients with augmented reality and virtual reality metaverse devices so they can communicate with doctors from the comfort of their own home.
Thumbay Group has hired a specialist to teach all its doctors how to handle patients at the soon-to-be-built medical center.
Treatment & Consultation in Virtual Reality
Thumby Group Vice President Akbar Moideen Thumbay said the company is integrating artificial intelligence into the hospital’s system, where cameras will be installed to monitor patients’ license plate numbers and faces every time they enter the hospital.
Metaverse hardware consists of extended reality (XR) devices, microchips, sensors and other advanced components.
Expensive high-speed networks, huge storage space, powerful computers and headgear are needed to experience the metaverse in the most realistic and entertaining way.
These metaverse gadgets use more complex technology to create a virtual environment with a realistic appearance, increasing their cost.
Crypto total market cap at $902 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Recommended literature | UK Treasury to Ban Crypto Law Despite Bank of England Doubts
UAE poised to become a metaverse powerhouse
As for the rates for consultations, which the company has not yet disclosed, they will likely be similar to the average fee for teleconsultations charged by healthcare providers, Thumbay said.
Meanwhile, Dubai has just established a task force to monitor metaverse developments and opportunities.
By 2030, the booming metropolis expects the metaverse to contribute to gross domestic product and add more than $4 billion to the economy. As a result of this plan, the virtualization of 42,000 jobs is also envisaged.
Led by the Ministry of Health and Community Protection of the UAE, the first metaverse-enabled customer service center was established in Dubai in January 2021.
The UAE plans to become a major player in the virtual space, designing a regulatory and legal foundation for the multi-billion dollar sector.
Featured image from Acceleration Economy, chart from TradingView.com