2 SEA hospitals see high-tech future with VR, metaverse

Caroline Riady

VR, AR and the metaverse will expand beyond video games and into healthcare

Malaysia-based IHH Healthcare and Indonesia’s Siloam International Hospitals both saw big opportunities in using virtual and augmented reality to boost their telemedicine services, with patients one day potentially turning to the metaverse to help them recover.

The two hospitals have been tapping telemedicine in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, using technology to reach patients hit by movement restrictions or in remote areas. They have also begun to explore artificial intelligence and data analysis to support diagnosis and improve the quality of care. Now they think virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and the metaverse will expand beyond video games and into healthcare.

Siloam deputy president director Caroline Riady said, “I think that these capabilities provide new methods to deliver care. One day we hope to have a metaverse hospital, and there are a lot of services that can be provided in that kind of form.”

During the Nikkei Innovative Asia forum held in Singapore, Riady cited the example of potentially using such technology in psychiatry and psychology where patients might prefer to have counselling at home. “Being able to feel like they’re sitting in front of a doctor, sitting in front of somebody counselling them, except not leaving

We’re not replacing bricks and mortar, but complementing them

their home, is something that’s going to be very, very powerful.”

IHH chief information officer Linus Tham added the quickly evolving digital technologies offer ‘a huge opportunity’ to enhance services and experiences in telemedicine and teleconsultation. “The combination of AR, VR, and the metaverse environment will give that unique engagement opportunity that we can have with our staff and with the patients,” Tham told the Nikkei forum. “I look at further transforming how health care is delivered. We’re not replacing bricks and mortar, but complementing [them]”.

Drone delivery

Over the next 10 to 15 years, he expects drones to deliver drugs directly to people in isolated regions where health facilities are scarce. He also expects developments in AI and machine learning technology to help doctors from counselling outpatients to remotely monitoring patients in intensive care units.

The e-Conomy SEA 2021 report released from November 2021 by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company showed health tech in Southeast Asia ‘continues its upward trajectory’ amid the enduring pandemic, citing ‘increasingly bullish’ investor appetite in the sector with a record-high $1.1 billion funding in the first half of 2021 alone, versus around $800 million for the whole of 2020.

MOH TO REVIEW USE OF TRACETOGETHER

As Singapore passed the peak of the Omicron wave, the Ministry of Health said it is also reviewing measures such as TraceTogether, SafeEntry, and Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures (VDS).

The MOH said the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) will review the relevance and application of TraceTogether as the ministry no longer relies on the app for contact tracing for the general public.

“There is really no need to compare the data between self-reporting and TraceTogether, because having vaccinated the vast majority of our population and being determined to live with COVID-19, we have passed that stage of the pandemic where we contact trace every case,” the Ministry of Health said.

However, MOH also underscored that the app is being used by agencies looking after more vulnerable sectors, such as schools or pre-schools.

The ministry said the MTF will decide on standing the app down when it is no longer needed whilst maintaining the capability to restart it should Singapore encounter a more dangerous variant of concern.

On VDS, the MOH said the measure is still “needed” considering that 3.5% of the country’s adult population is still not fully vaccinated.

“The more cautious and correct course of action now is to keep VDS, and not to risk having more non-fully vaccinated patients getting infected and needing hospital care and adding workload to our healthcare workers,” the MOH said.

With VDS still in place, MOH said SafeENtry will also be retained as it is the “most convenient way to check the vaccination status of an individual entering a premise.”

The government has earlier made relaxations on Safe Management Measures (SMMs), particularly on travel.

The MOH no longer uses the app for general public contact tracing