Clinic management software in Dubai, and what to check for NABIDH

A clinic licensed by the Dubai Health Authority must run an electronic medical record that meets NABIDH standards, with a tested connection, before its licence can be activated, so the first check on any clinic management system is its NABIDH status. After that, compare how it answers patients in Arabic and English, takes payment at booking, writes the doctor's notes and what it costs over three years.

Why NABIDH comes first

NABIDH is the Dubai Health Authority's health information exchange, the platform that connects public and private facilities in Dubai so that trusted health information can move between them.¹ The DHA's licensing manual makes it a condition of opening. To activate a facility licence, a clinic must show an electronic medical record that complies with the NABIDH Minimum Data Set and connectivity requirements, and keep the approval email for its tested NABIDH connection ready for the inspector.²

The number of facilities that must pass this check keeps rising. Dubai had about 5,800 licensed health facilities in 2025, up from 5,340 a year earlier.³ Each new one needs a connected record before it can open.³ By the end of June 2025, NABIDH held more than 10.41 million medical records from about 1,888 licensed facilities, sent through 91 different electronic medical record systems.⁴

Ninety-one systems is a long list. A connection to NABIDH tells you a system can be licensed. It tells you little about how the clinic will run on it, which is where the rest of the comparison belongs.

What to ask about NABIDH

Ask for the vendor's NABIDH status in writing, including the date it passed DHA connectivity testing and the facility types it covers.
Ask which standards it uses to send data. The DHA recommends HL7 version 2 for submitting data and expects systems to support FHIR and IHE profiles as well.¹
Ask what happens when a message to NABIDH fails, who is told, and how quickly it is sent again.
Ask how the system records consent. The DHA does not require consent for a clinic to upload records to NABIDH, but the clinic's general consent form must include a clause on sharing with NABIDH, and consent to access records through it should be given in writing in Arabic or English.⁵
Ask for the hosting location of your records in writing. Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 says health data about care given in the UAE may not be stored, processed or transferred outside the country unless a decision of the health authority allows it, and requires health data to be kept for at least 25 years after the last treatment.⁶

wai hosts your clinic's records in the UAE, under the UAE's rules. We set this up with your clinic.

How patients reach you

Look at what each system does with a WhatsApp message in Arabic at 11 pm, an email in English from a patient abroad and a missed call at lunch. Each should land in one thread for that patient, with a reply ready in the language the patient wrote in.

The time to first reply is worth measuring. Research published in the Harvard Business Review found that companies that contacted a new enquiry within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a meaningful conversation with the decision maker as those that waited an hour longer, and more than 60 times as likely as those that waited a day or more.⁷

Payments and invoices

Check that the system sends a payment link with the booking, records a deposit against the visit, and produces the invoice from the codes in the consultation note. A clinic that takes the fee at booking knows who is coming before the day starts, and the finance team does not rebuild each invoice by hand.

Notes and letters

Ask how long a doctor spends on the note after each patient. In a randomised trial of 66 practitioners published in NEJM AI, an ambient AI scribe cut the time spent on notes by about 22 minutes a day without lowering note quality, diagnosis coding or billing compliance.⁸ Check that the scribe drafts the note while the doctor and patient talk, drafts letters before the patient leaves, and sends nothing until the doctor has signed it.

The patient's own app

Patients want their information on their phone. In a survey of 8,139 patients and care partners at four US academic medical centres, 95.7% preferred to receive test results through an online portal as soon as they were released.⁹ Ask whether the system gives each patient their own app for booking, payment, check-in and results, and whether the record in that app is the same one the doctor signs.

Moving from an old system

A clinic that is replacing a system has a second set of questions. The DHA publishes a guideline for the transition of electronic medical records alongside its NABIDH standards, and lists it among the documents a facility should read with the interoperability standard.¹ Ask the new vendor to show how records, appointments and balances move across, how long the old system stays readable, and who checks the first week of NABIDH submissions after the switch.

Patients who opt out

A patient may ask to opt out of NABIDH through a process the DHA manages, using a form the clinic provides.⁵ When a patient has opted out, the clinic keeps sending their records, with the identifiers anonymised.⁵ Ask each vendor to show how the system flags an opted out patient and changes what it sends.

Cost over three years

Ask for the price over three years, including set-up, NABIDH integration, training, messaging and payment fees. Ask which costs rise with the number of doctors, patients or messages, and put the answer in the contract.

How to run the comparison

Shortlist three systems whose NABIDH status you have seen in writing.
Send each vendor the same five scenarios. A WhatsApp enquiry in Arabic at night, a booking paid by link, a consultation with a referral letter, a NABIDH submission and a patient asking for their results.
Watch each scenario run live, with your front desk and one doctor in the room.
Ask for the hosting location, the NABIDH status and the three year price in writing before you sign.

Where wai fits

wai Admin answers enquiries in Arabic and English day and night in one thread per patient and takes the fee at booking, wai Clinicians writes the note while the doctor talks and sends nothing until it is signed, and wai Profile gives each patient their records, results, booking and check-in. The doctor leaves with the notes done, and the morning starts with last night's messages already answered.

Questions

Is NABIDH mandatory for clinics in Dubai?

Yes. The DHA's licensing manual requires a clinic to show an electronic medical record that meets NABIDH standards, with a tested NABIDH connection, before its facility licence is activated.

What is a NABIDH approved EMR?

It is an electronic medical record system that meets the NABIDH Minimum Data Set and connectivity requirements and has been tested with the DHA. About 91 such systems were connected to NABIDH by mid 2025, so ask each vendor for its status in writing.

Do patients have to consent to their records being shared on NABIDH?

Under the DHA's 2025 consent standard, a clinic does not need consent to upload records to NABIDH, but its general consent form must include a clause on sharing with NABIDH. Patients can ask to opt out through a process the DHA manages.

How long must medical records be kept in the UAE?

Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 requires health data to be kept for at least 25 years from the last treatment. Check that any system you choose can keep and export records for that period.

Sources

Written and reviewed by the clinical team at wai. Last reviewed 13 October 2026.