Health strategies, policies and laws

The UAE’s health policies are aimed at providing high quality and efficient health services whether curative, preventive or rehabilitative. The health laws protect the rights of patients and regulate health facilities, medicines, medical products and medical personnel. The government aims to provide high-quality services in innovative ways, in accordance with the best standards and in collaboration with health entities.

Healthcare strategies

The UAE Government is working in collaboration with all health authorities in the country to have all public and private hospitals accredited according to clear, national and international quality standards of medical services and staff.

Key strategies in the health sector are:

Health policies

The UAE’s health policies are aimed at providing high quality and efficient health services whether curative, preventive or rehabilitative. These policies intend to make significant improvements in the provision of health services and to fulfill the aspirations of the Emirati society for a future characterised by excellence and sophistication in the health sector. Among the policies implemented are:

Refer to more health policies on the website of MoHaP.

Learn about health programmes in Abu Dhabi.

Health laws

The UAE government has worked towards establishing a legislative system in the health sector to promote and protect public health. This is in accordance with the precautionary principles, confirmed scientific evidence and the international health regulations. The government seeks to raise awareness in the community about the factors and risks that affect human health, establishing a sense of individual and collective responsibility.

The legislative system in the UAE serves to protect the rights of patients and regulate health facilities, medicines, medical products and medical personnel. This ensures that the UAE’s goals in the health sector are achieved. The government aims to provide high-quality services in innovative ways, in accordance with the best standards and in collaboration with health entities. Find related health legislations on the websites of:

Ministry of Health and Prevention
Department of Health- Abu Dhabi ( Read under Resources)
Dubai Health Authority
Insurance in Dubai.

Read about patients’ rights and responsibilities.

The following legislations are among the most critical federal health regulations that oversee sensitive matters in the UAE’s health sector:

Federal Law No. 13 of 2020 on Public Health
Federal Law No.14 of 2014 on Combatting Communicable Diseases
Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016 on Medical Liability (PDF,8821 KB)
Federal Decree Law No. 2 of 2021 amending some provisions of Federal Law No. 4 of 2015 Regarding Private Health Facilities
Federal Law No. 5 of 2019 on the Regulation of the Practice of the Human Medicine Profession
Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 Concerning the Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Health Fields
Ministerial Resolution No. 14 of 2021 on the Patient’s Rights and Responsibilities Charter (PDF, 331 KB).

Important initiatives in the health sector

ICT in the health sector - legislations and policies

Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 Concerning the Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Health Fields (available in Arabic) regulates the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the health care sector in the UAE, including its free zones.

Objectives

The law aims to ensure:

the optimal use of the ICT in the UAE’s health sector
the compatibility of the adopted principles, standards and practices with their internationally recognised counterparts
the safety and security of health data and information.

Additionally, the law enables Ministry of Health and Prevention to collect, analyse and keep the health information at the national level.

Data protection and privacy

When using ICT, health providers must comply with the following:

keep all health data and information confidential and refrain from sharing it without due authorisation
ensure the validity and credibility of the health data, and protect it from destruction, unauthorised amendment, alteration, deletion or addition
ensure the availability of the health data to the authorised parties and facilitate access when needed.

ICT in health policies

‘DOH Policy on Digital Health’ aims to enable the use of digital technologies to improve care delivery and health outcomes. Read full policy on the website of Department of Health Abu Dhabi.

The National Nutrition Guidelines

Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) launched the National Nutrition Guidelines (1.95 MB, PDF in Arabic) to serve as a unified national reference on food and nutrition education in the UAE’s community and health institutions. The guideline aims to:

improve the nutritional status of the UAE’s community and raise awareness about healthy eating behaviour and lifestyle-related diseases
reduce the prevalence of chronic and malnutrition diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, anemia, osteoporosis and vitamin deficiency
scale down non-communicable diseases and mortality rates
encourage individuals to engage in physical activities for better health.

The guidelines consist of six guides. They are:

to support and promote a healthy living system through healthy food and physical activity
to maintain healthy food intake at all stages of life
to reduce calories resulting from high sugar, saturated and trans fats and to reduce salt intake
to eat variety of diet food and drinks that are rich in nutrients and high in nutritional intensity
to adopt healthy food patterns
to achieve food safety.

The National Nutrition Guidelines were developed in collaboration with the UAE’s Food and Water Security Office, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gulf Nutrition Committee and the local government bodies across the UAE.

Was this information helpful?

Give us your feedback so we can improve your experience.