The first metaverse hospital to launch in the UAE

In the UAE, the first hospital in the metaverse under the management of Thumbay Group will go live this October. It will be a fully functional virtual hospital where patients around the world can use avatars to interact with doctors.

Healthcare provider Thumbay Group announced it has already started work on the project. It will be a fully functional virtual hospital where patients can use avatars to interact with doctors, propelling medical tourism in the UAE.

“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,” explained Dr. Thumbay Moideen, the founder and president of Thumbay Group. “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.”

Thumbay Group offers AR/VR metaverse technologies to long-term care patients who have been hospitalized for at least six months and are bedridden or paralyzed, including people with permanent disabilities.

“The hospital is giving them AR and VR headsets; so that they can see their homes,” Thumbay said. “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 VR technology. This motivates long-term care patients and gives them hope that they can go back to their country.”

Regarding fees, Thumbay said it would likely be in line with the teleconsultation fee charged by the healthcare operator.

As reported earlier, the UAE Ministry of Health and Community Protection (MOHAP) launched January the world’s first customer service center with metaverse technologies in Dubai.

The center is designed to meet the requirements of customer service in 3D spaces, providing them with an interactive and digitally immersive sensory experience. Patients have an opportunity to chat quickly with real persons from the Customer Satisfaction Center here, as the UAE healthcare organization has hired a company to train all its staff on how to deal with patients at metaverse.

Also, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in May announced plans to establish its metaverse headquarters in The Sandbox virtual world. Thus, VARA would become the world’s first regulator to enter the metaverse, showcasing the government’s attempts to turn Dubai into a hub for the digital economy.