UAE to Open World's 1st Medical Metaverse, Patients to Visit as Avatars

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to march forth with the exploration of the metaverse technology. The country is now gearing up to launch the world's first hospital in the metaverse, where patients will be able to visit for consultations as avatars. The digital facility will be operational by October and will be headed by international business conglomerate, Thumbay Group. With the launch of this medical metaverse, the UAE is looking to boost medical tourism in the country.

The authorities governing UAE's healthcare sector has hired a company to train select doctors on how to treat patients in the virtual world, a report by BTCPlayers said on Friday.

As for now, the fee charging structure for the doctors in this metaverse has not been decided, but is expected to be along the lines of telephonic consultation charges.

As part of its plans, the Thumbay Group will be integrating other technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR) to make the metaverse experience detailed and immersive for the patients.

Research reports expect the market opportunity for the metaverse to reach $800 billion (roughly Rs. 59,58,719 crore) by 2024.

UAE is seemingly accelerating efforts to become one of the early adopters of this digital world scenario.

Back in April, UAE's Emirates airlines announced its entry into the metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT) sectors.

The move was announced after Abu Dhabi and Dubai legalised crypto-related activities and businesses in the UAE. Regions of the middle east intend to link their digital economies to the crypto industry.

Not just brands, but the government of UAE itself, is bidding to establish its presence in the virtual universe.

In May, Dubai's recently formed Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) officially began work on its metaverse presence.

Having partnered with metaverse player The Sandbox, VARA has disclosed plans of creating a virtual headquarter in the digital world. This VARA office in The Sandbox has been named ‘MetaHQ'.