BioAsia 2023: Healthcare in Metaverse, the next big thing

At the BioAsia 2023, the experts panel discussed how the metaverse and its immersive experience aid the industry in expediting drug discovery, bringing down the cost of health care, training, and other key areas

Hyderabad: As medicine moves from curative to preventive and even predictive care, one of the main themes at the 20th BioAsia conference revolved around the role of technology, especially artificial intelligence in the healthcare and pharma industries.

Agham Upadhyay, SVP, CFO at GSK, and Philippe Houben, Head of CTM and Digital transformation at IMETA, participated in an interactive panel discussion on ‘Healthcare Reimagined: Telemedicine, wearables in Metaverse’, moderated by Ram Deshpande, Partner, Digital Transformation, EY.

The panel discussed how the metaverse and its immersive experience aid the industry in expediting drug discovery, bringing down the cost of health care, training, and other key areas. “Metaverse, as we know, is virtual reality that allows experience, as if you are physically present. It could be an important tool in bringing the emotional and environmental dimensions that help patients and caregivers through the process,” said Houben.

Pivoting towards the training and educational uses of Metaverse, Upadhyay spoke about how efficient it has proved to be in recent times. He said that as the equipment used in the industry is quite expensive, having a platform where amateurs can train using simulation will not just increase the speed of learning but helps in the retention of knowledge.

“We could use the metaverse like a game to train professionals. Short-term repetitive rewards coupled with optics sensors using a VR will give a better learning experience,” adds Houben.
Metaverse in the future may also help caregivers and patients to understand the process they are going through with the use of touch and feel experience, the panelists say.

Asked if there can be treatments related to mental health and phobias using metaverse in the future, Houben remarked that one has to be brave and experiment to create such technology, adding that having a strong data foundation is vital.

“Healthcare in Metaverse is the future of the internet, which can alleviate drug delivery processes, a platform to seamlessly share information, and give confidence to patients and caregivers,” concluded Deshpande.