In the UAE a clinic’s website counts as healthcare advertising, and healthcare advertising needs a licence before it is published: a federal licence from the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) for the website itself, and the emirate’s own approval alongside it, from the DHA in Dubai or the DoH in Abu Dhabi. Here is what you submit, what stays off the page, and how Arabic and the health-data rule shape it.
Key points
- MOHAP licenses the advertising on a website: one account per institution, the homepage and link submitted, every named practitioner’s licence proved, approval or amendments, a licence to renew.
- Dubai adds the DHA’s authorisation; Abu Dhabi adds logging the advertisement with the DoH through TAMM after training.
- Discounts and offers described as costing nothing need the economic department’s licence and the health authority’s approval; absolute claims are barred; before-and-after images need consent and a results-differ line.
- Arabic is required alongside any other language.
- Health information may not leave the UAE, so the contact form asks for name, phone, email and the service only.
Why a clinic website is advertising here
Federal Law 2 of 2019 on information and communication technology in health fields makes publishing a health advertisement through the central system without authorisation a punishable act; MOHAP’s licence for a website or digital link follows from it. In Dubai, Executive Council Resolution 49 of 2024 defines health promotion as disseminating information by any print, audio, visual or electronic means to promote healthcare services, and treats publishing one without the DHA’s authorisation as a violation. A page that lists your services and invites a booking is, on that definition, health promotion.
The MOHAP licence: what you submit
The service is “License for a Healthcare Advertisement on a Website or Digital Link”. You sign in with UAE PASS and register once in the advertising licensing programme; each institution may open one account, and if more are opened all are frozen. You then complete the form and attach a copy of the homepage showing the link, valid licences for the service providers listed on the site, and registration certificates for any products listed. The officer reviews them and either approves or asks for amendments or further documents. Once approved, the design is printed with the MOHAP approval and the licence’s start and expiry dates; the licence runs for a set period and is renewed through its own service.
The emirate’s approval alongside it
In Dubai the Executive Council resolution requires the DHA’s authorisation before any health promotion is published. The DHA’s standard on medical advertisement content in social media adds three things: the facility’s official account states the MOHAP advertisement licence number; the Medical Director approves any content naming the facility or its location; and every statement about treatment outcomes is substantiated and always includes the risks. The standard is written for social media and its definition reaches websites used for social networking; the safe reading treats a clinic’s site the same way.
In Abu Dhabi, DoH Circular 26 of 2023 set up training on the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Guidelines for Health Media and Advertising System, after which facility representatives can log their advertising on DoH systems; “Log a Health Advertisement” is a DoH e-service on TAMM.
What counts as advertising on the page
Anything that promotes a service: services, prices, offers, before-and-after images, testimonials. The DHA standard’s appendix lists what is acceptable: a factual statement of the services, contact details, hours, fees and insurance arrangements, recognised qualifications and titles, languages, accreditations, publications and public-health information. And what is not: unrealistic expectations, pressure to act, claims that one profession is safer than another, recovery times that raise false hopes, inaccurate prices or discounts that cannot be met, and claims of an infallible treatment or a skill others lack.
What the rules forbid
- Discounts, and offers described as costing nothing. Federal Law 15 of 2020 on consumer protection bars a supplier from promoting goods or services, offering general price discounts or advertising them without a prior licence from the competent authority; the advertisement then goes through the health authority’s review, so an offer needs both.
- Misleading or unverifiable claims. The same law bars describing a service with incorrect data or advertising it misleadingly. The DHA standard requires every claim to be substantiated and bars absolute and exaggerated statements: uniqueness, certainty, wonder, immediate results.
- Before-and-after images without consent and the notice. The DHA standard wants both images of the same person, same lens, no software enhancement, a line that the result may differ from one person to another plus the risks in the same font size as the rest, and documented consent from every patient shown, limited in purpose and time. MOHAP’s guideline allows the images with a similar notice in the advertisement’s average font size and a signed declaration taking responsibility for the photographs.
- Testimonials. Every patient who appears needs documented consent, and testimonials comparing health professions are not acceptable; whether a given one passes MOHAP’s review is decided there. Patient reviews on a medical website have their own reckoning.
Arabic
The consumer-protection law requires the data, advertisements and contracts related to the consumer to be in Arabic, with other languages allowed in addition. MOHAP’s guideline asks, for advertised text in any language other than Arabic or English, for a translation and the establishment’s declaration that it matches. So the site is built in Arabic and English together.
The data rule and the contact form
Article 13 of Federal Law 2 of 2019 says health information related to services provided in the UAE may not be stored, processed, generated or transferred outside the UAE unless the health authority or the Minister allows it. A form hosted abroad that asks about symptoms creates health information outside the country. So the form asks for a name, phone number, email address and the service wanted, nothing else, with a line asking for no medical details; the same applies to WhatsApp. Otherwise the site needs what any private practice website needs.
This post explains the UAE’s rules; it is not legal advice and does not replace a lawyer or your licensing authority. The copy you submit for review is copy that informs and does not promise.
Common questions
Can the site go live while the licence is pending?
No. In Dubai, publishing a health promotion before the authorisation is itself a violation, and the approved design carries the MOHAP approval and licence dates. Until then, publish nothing that promotes a service.
Do the prices on the site need approval?
Prices are acceptable under the DHA standard if accurate and with their conditions stated. The difficulty is the discount or offer, which needs the competent authority’s licence before it appears.
Does one licence cover the whole site?
The licence is issued for the website or link you submitted and rests on the homepage and practitioners’ licences supplied. Adding a doctor or service changes that basis; ask MOHAP whether an amended application is needed before renewal.
This is part of the practice-focused copywriting work on every website we look after.
References
- License for a Healthcare Advertisement on a Website or Digital Link, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) — mohap.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11
- Guidelines for Health Advertisement Approval Requisition, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) — mohap.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11
- New UAE Law Regulates Healthcare Data (Client Alert 2514, on Federal Law No. 2 of 2019), Latham & Watkins (2019) — lw.com · Accessed 2026-10-11
- Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection, Ministry of Economy and Tourism (2020) — moet.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11
- Standards for Medical Advertisement Content on Social Media (DHA/HRS/HPSD/ST-21, version 1.1), Dubai Health Authority (2022) — dha.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11
- Executive Council Resolution No. (49) of 2024 Regulating the Practice of Health Professions and Health Activities in the Emirate of Dubai, Government of Dubai (2024) — dlp.dubai.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11
- Circular No. 26/2023: Training Programme on Abu Dhabi Healthcare Guidelines for Health Media & Advertising System, Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (2023) — doh.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11
- eServices, Department of Health – Abu Dhabi — doh.gov.ae · Accessed 2026-10-11