Maternity and paediatric care
Expectant mothers need to open a file for themselves at a maternity hospital. To ensure a smooth access to maternity services, please open the file before the seventh month of pregnancy. The following documents are needed to open a file:
- Passports of both parents
- Marriage certificate; attested and translated if not in Arabic
- Residence visas of both expectant parents
- Emirates ID of both expectant parents
- Insurance card
- Family book (for UAE nationals)
The child can be delivered in either a government or a private hospital. The cost of delivery at a public or private hospital depends on a number of factors such as:
- extent of coverage provided by the insurance (if applicable)
- grade of package chosen (economy, luxury etc.)
- services chosen in the package (type of room etc.)
- type of delivery (normal or a caesarean; the latter being about twice as expensive)
- other essential medical treatments as per individual case.
The baby will carry the citizenship of the father.
You can look for maternity and pediatric healthcare facilities on the websites of:
The UAE’s provisions on medical assistance for reproduction
The UAE’s Federal Law No. 7 for the year 2019 Concerning Medically Assisted Reproduction governs the use of the Medically Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ART) by licensed medical facilities in the UAE. It abolishes the Federal Law No. 11 of 2008 Concerning Licensing of Fertilisation Centers in the State. According to the 2019 law, ART are determined by a decision of Ministry of Health and Prevention and these techniques may not be used in places other than medical centres licensed for this purpose.
Terms and conditions
The above law lays down terms and conditions for applying the Techniques of Medically Assisted Reproduction. They are as follows:
- The technique must be most appropriate medically for the patient
- It may be applied after establishing that pregnancy cannot happen by natural means for a period of not less than a year
- It may be implemented after a specialist physician issues a certificate stating that there is no danger to the life of the woman or her foetus or a serious harm to their health from the procedure
- It may be implemented after a written consent from the man to accept the use of the technique
- It may be implemented after providing the man a detailed explanation of the technique, its financial cost and the realistic rate of the woman getting pregnant in similar cases at the facility.
Read more terms and conditions mentioned in Article 8 of the law.
Prohibited practices
The law prohibits the use of ART in the following ways:
- Performing fertilisation using the sperm of a man and the ovum of a woman other than his wife, and then implanting the fertilised ovum into his wife’s uterus
- Performing fertilisation using the ovum of a woman and the sperm of a man other than her husband, and then implanting the fertilised ovum into her uterus
- Performing external fertilisation using the sperm of a man and the ovum of his wife, and then implanting the fertilised ovum into the uterus of another woman
- Performing external fertilisation using the sperm of a man and the ovum of a woman other than his wife, and then implanting the fertilised ovum into the uterus of another woman
- Performing external fertilisation using the sperm of a man and the ovum of his wife, and then implanting the fertilised ovum into the uterus of his other wife/wives.
The law also prohibits fertility centres from using unfertilised or fertilised ova or sperm for commercial purposes, or conducting research, or executing genetic modifications of the characteristics of neonates, or disposing of them for the benefit of others.
Practices allowed
The law allows:
- fertilisation of as many number of eggs that are sufficient for implantation more than once, according to specific conditions and controls
- preservation of frozen fertilised ova and sperm for future reproduction for the benefit of a couple; such preservation will be for a period of five years, subject to extension
- keeping unfertilised eggs or frozen sperms for a period of five years, which can be extended for similar periods upon a written request from the parties concerned.
For more information on the subject, contact Ministry of Health and Prevention.
Abortion
According to the UAE law, it is a crime to abort a pregnancy unless:
- it endangers the woman's life or
- there is evidence that the baby will be born with fatal deformities and will not survive.
In the latter case, the foetus must be aborted before it is 120 days old, which is during the 17th week of the pregnancy and one week into the second trimester. The abortion must be approved by an authorised medical board. Abortion of foetus after 120 days of pregnancy is not permitted.
