Patients to get ‘virtual hospital tours’ via app

ISTANBUL

An application created by Turkish entrepreneurs allows patients from abroad to virtually tour Turkish hospitals while real-time digital representations of the hospital staff lead guests around, show the equipment, and provide information.

With the collaboration of TürkTelekom and Healthverse Panoramic Web, the digital application called Healthverse was put into service for the first time at Liv Hospital.

The application brings patient coordinators, doctors and patients together online in a digital environment and enables healthcare professionals to fulfill their duties remotely.

Patients living in different countries but plan to get their surgical procedures in Türkiye are able to visit the virtual version of the hospital with VR glasses, mobile phones or computers from wherever they are, and have virtual meetings with healthcare workers.

The introduction of this innovative technology to the general public will also allow patients and companies to save money as seminars, conferences and fairs can also be organized in the virtual realm through the application.

“Together with Türk Telekom, we have created a brand-new platform that will change the rules of the game in digital communication and marketing in the field of health tourism,” said Beliz Teoman Ünay, co-founder of Healthverse Panoramic Web.

Meri İstiroti, Liv Hospital Group Coordinator, pointed out that the country’s foreign patient ratio in health tourism could double within a year thanks to the software.

“With this new software, we have the opportunity to show our hospitals with the latest technological equipment along with listening to our foreign patients' different symptoms and recommending the treatments they need,” İstiroti told local media.

Stressing that as their international patients were able to gather information much more easily about the procedures they plan to have and what kinds of processes await them there long before traveling to Türkiye, İsiroti noted that this convenience has increased patients’ trust in them “tremendously.”