The United Arab Emirates is taking the metaverse to another level, launching the first metaverse hospital that will cater to medical tourism.
The metaverse hospital will be managed by the Thumbay Group, a healthcare provider that’s already begun working on the project. The virtual hospital will be a place guests can visit using avatars and interact with virtual doctors and healthcare physicians.
According to Dr. Thumbay Moideen, founder of the Thumbay Group, the hospital will launch before October of this year. The hospital will also be representative of the Thumbay healthcare facility, so patients interested in medical tourism can see what the facility looks like before they visit.
The Thumbay hospital also offers long-term care patients access to augmented and virtual reality metaverse technologies and uses cameras to detect patients’ car license plate numbers and faces before they enter the building to streamline the check-in process.
The United Arab Emirates is Bullish on the Metaverse
The metaverse hospital from Thumbay is far from the country’s first foray into Web3 and the metaverse. Last January, the AE’s Ministry of Health and Community Protection (MOHAP) launched the world’s first customer service center with metaverse technology. The experience is more immersive and meets customers’ needs in 3D spaces in a user-friendly way.
Other news we’ve reported from the wealthy Middle Eastern country includes United Emirates Airlines launching NFTs in the metaverse and introducing bitcoin payments to their network.
Lastly, Sharjah’s House of Wisdom in the AE hosted an international NFT art exhibit between March and April of this year that featured over 60 international artists and 15 local artists. The event sought to position the House as a leading innovator in the digital art space.
Of course, the AE isn’t the only country that’s big on Web3 and the metaverse. We’ve also seen heavy investment in Web3 spaces by South Korea and strong NFT adoption in the Philippines.
We’ll have to wait and see if customers interested in medical tourism will take advantage of the new virtual hospital when it’s released later this year. But if it’s a success, metaverse hospitals could become a future trend.