Yashoda Hospitals Group has acquired space on Decentraland to construct a metaverse platform where users can buy and sell property apart from engaging them in other life-like activities. The virtual clinic is hoped to be operational by next year.
By now, chances are you’ve heard all about the new surround-yourself technology known as the “metaverse”, the purported next big online thing conceived by Mark Zuckerberg. For those unaware, the metaverse is sort of the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Meta CEO Zuckerberg has described it as a “virtual environment” you can go inside of, instead of just looking at on a screen. People can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.
Hyderabad-based Yashoda Hospitals Group has acquired space on Decentraland — a metaverse platform where users can buy and sell property and engage in other life-like activities — in order to set up a virtual clinic. As per The Print, The ‘land’ acquired by the group measuring 16 x 16 ‘metres’ is a virtual experience centre where users can learn more about the chain of hospitals, the services it provides, and the doctors on its panel.
By next year, the space will be ready to as a virtual clinic where the avatars of patients will be able to seek expert consultations from doctors, according to the group — for a fee that will depend on the doctor and may eventually be on par with that of physical consultations, as per the report.
“Since the beginning, we have aimed to be progressive as a group, we have many firsts to our accolade, including clinical excellence, infrastructure, and innovation. We have been early adopters of digital technology that adds value to our ecosystem, from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and now Web 3.0. We believe the future will be driven by core technologies like the blockchain and Web 3.0, moving from a centralized to a decentralized ecosystem.” Dr Abhinav Gorukanti, director of Yashoda Hospitals said in a statement, as per Financial Express.
“Setting up our presence on decentraland is the first step towards our efforts and acceptance of decentralized tech, we will continue to upgrade and invest in making our digital infrastructure future-ready,” he added. Gorukanti told The Print that buying space on Decentraland marks the group’s plunge into the metaverse, adding that they are working on “evolving the experience” by placing a receptionist to take things forward.
“There are, of course, a lot of limitations to the metaverse; emergency services will have to be physical. However, lifestyle, mental health, and nutrition, these are things that can be on this platform,” he added.
In February, The Apollo Group of Hospitals announced a tie-up with 8chili Hint VR (Virtual Reality) platform. As per The Indian Express, the announcement was made by Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals who said the move was done to allow both patients and doctors to engage in virtual reality as that was the future.
“The main focus of VR in patient care would be for pre-post operative counselling, increasing patient outcomes by bringing in relaxing narratives that induce control over one’s psychological responses. The VR will also help in a personalised approach to every patient,” Reddy said.
“People learn best by doing, which is why healthcare is a natural fit for immersive VR training. Findings support the equivalence and superiority of VR training, the time to skill mastery and the economic savings in this platform as compared to traditional methods,” said Dr Sangita Reddy. She further explained that the virtual reality platform will help take VR immersive training at scale and efficiencies.
According to the hospital, California-based 8chili Hint VR is an end-to-end platform to manage metaverse strategy helping in original 3D content creation, metaverse customisation and also delivery of this content across various metaverse real estate. Speaking about the entire new venture, Dr Prathap C Reddy said, “Virtual Reality will change how we enrich the healthcare community and also improve patient experiences. Apollo Hospitals is excited to work with Hint VR to find solutions into our care continuum.”
