Do you need a health card?

Dubai: Is it necessary to have a health card in Dubai? What are its uses? Does it subsidise the cost of healthcare at public hospitals?

Questions such as these have long confounded expatriate residents. But clearing the confusion, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) told XPRESS that residents must have a health card in order to be registered with DHA hospitals.

“The health card number works as a file number of all DHA hospitals,” a spokesperson said. “It is a registration mechanism. But during emergencies, it can be made on the spot and a temporary health card is sufficient for all necessary treatment. Later on, the individual may choose to make it a permanent card.”

Having a file with DHA has many advantages as it ensures a record of the patient’s history and data that is readily available when patients move from one specialty to another within a hospital or across hospitals within DHA.

Clarifying that the card does not entitle a patient to any discount in fees, she said: “There is no difference in the price.”

She said the health card costs Dh310 for expatriates above 18 and Dh110 for expats below 10. Those 10 to 17 years must pay Dh210. For Emiratis, the fee is Dh110 for those above 18 years, Dh60 for those 10 to 17 and Dh25 below 10 years.

Residents can get the card from a DHA hospital by producing a passport copy and photograph.