Ministry of Health launches streamlined license transfer service for healthcare professionals in UAE

Dubai: As part of its ‘Zero Bureaucracy’ strategy and efforts to enhance quality of life, the Ministry of Health and Prevention has announced the launch of a new service for healthcare professionals, allowing them to transfer their licenses from the Dubai Health Authority and the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi without the need for reassessment. This initiative comes within the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to re-engineer and modernize its healthcare services, under the second phase of the ‘Zero Bureaucracy’ Program.

The new service aims to facilitate the mobility of healthcare professionals between the country’s competent health authorities, thereby improving the efficiency of licensing procedures and providing a smoother and more flexible user experience. In a report on service re-engineering published on its official website, the Ministry confirmed that it is redesigning and streamlining its services to simplify processes, reduce unnecessary requirements, and improve service efficiency — in line with its commitment to providing fast, easy, and high-quality services that align with the objectives of the “Zero Bureaucracy” Program.

The first package launched in this phase covered licensing and accreditation services for healthcare professions and facilities, which underwent a comprehensive redesign. The number of services was reduced from 32 to 16, cutting processing times, improving operational efficiency, and supporting compliance with the program’s targets.

In the second phase, the Ministry adopted a clear human-centered roadmap focused on simplifying processes, reducing documentation, eliminating duplicate or unnecessary requirements, integrating and enhancing digital systems, reducing the number of smart applications in use, cutting time, cost, and effort, and strengthening data exchange with partner entities. Digital systems have been interconnected to enable faster and easier service delivery. The Ministry has also emphasized measuring impact through studies and surveys to assess customer satisfaction, with the aim of achieving 100% of the digital “Zero Bureaucracy” Program goals.

Reducing required documents by 70%

Key service improvements included reducing procedural steps, eliminating redundancies, and enhancing the speed and efficiency of access to services — all to ensure a faster, simpler, and more efficient user experience.Among the updated services is the Healthcare Professional Evaluation process, in which the number of procedures was reduced and four previous services were consolidated into three. This change aims to accelerate the evaluation process by simplifying workflows, saving time, reducing paperwork, and expediting approvals. The number of steps has been reduced by up to 50% across all services, and required documentation has been cut by up to 70%, thanks to automated integration with the DataFlow system for data verification. Integration has also been enhanced with DataFlow, Prometric, payment platforms, blacklists, and Microsoft Teams, reducing approval times from 30 days to five days or less.

Reducing ‘Healthcare Professional Licensing’ services by 50%

The Healthcare Professional Licensing process has also been streamlined, with the number of services reduced from 17 to seven, eliminating duplication, simplifying steps, and improving efficiency. A new service has been introduced — License Transfer from Dubai Health Authority/Department of Health – Abu Dhabi — enabling healthcare professionals to transfer their licenses between the two authorities without reassessment, ensuring smooth and hassle-free transitions. The updated services include: issuing, renewing, reissuing, or transferring a healthcare professional license; canceling a license; licensing visiting physicians; issuing a certificate of good standing; and changing the job title on a physician’s license. These updates have reduced procedural steps by up to 50% for licensing, renewal, and cancellation, while cutting required documents by up to 77%. New processes require minimal or no documentation upload and integrate with up to five systems — including the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs, and Port Security; the National Drug Track and Trace Platform; DataFlow; the payment gateway; and blacklists — to automate verification and minimize manual intervention. Some services can now be completed in as little as five minutes instead of several days.

Reducing healthcare facility licensing procedures from 11 to 6

For Healthcare Facility Licensing, the Ministry has streamlined procedures by reducing them from 11 to six, while merging seven sub-procedures under the “Facility License Amendment” process. These updates aim to remove repetitive requirements, simplify workflows, and provide a more efficient and user-friendly licensing experience for healthcare facilities. Key improvements include a 63% reduction in steps, faster approvals, renewals, and amendments, and an 82% reduction in required documentation. Many procedures now require fewer or no document uploads. Integration has been expanded to include systems of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, the Ministry of Interior, Ra’ati and Tatmeen platforms — automating security checks and approvals. As a result, procedures that previously took weeks can now be completed in a matter of days or even minutes.