Complaints and investigations against healthcare professionals in the UAE: the clinician's side

The UAE has no single "fitness to practise" hearing of the kind some other countries use. A concern about a healthcare professional runs on separate tracks, and the same event can put you on two or three of them at once.

The tracks are linked but independent. Criminal liability does not remove disciplinary liability (Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016, Art. 38), and in Dubai an acquittal does not stop administrative penalties (Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2024, Art. 24). Not every case starts with a patient: the DHA investigates complaints referred by judicial bodies and government entities and audits medical records (Art. 4), and in March 2026 the DOH suspended staff at five facilities, pending referral to the Public Prosecution, after finding sick-leave certificates issued without examination and manipulated medical records.

The legal detail of the liability track is in our guide to UAE medical liability law; this page follows the case from your side.

A complaint is normally handled by the authority that licenses the facility where the care took place. Each one works differently; the summary below links to the detailed page for each.

The federal Medical Liability Decree-Law applies wherever you practise, so an alleged medical error always ends up before a Medical Liability Committee. Emirates Health Services, which runs federal government hospitals and clinics, is a healthcare provider and employer rather than a licensing authority; complaints about government hospitals are handled through it.

The federal rule (Cabinet Resolution No. 40 of 2019, Art. 8) is that a complaint goes to the competent health authority on paper or electronically, in Arabic or with a translation, stating its subject precisely, with supporting documents where possible and the details of the complainant and the patient. The complainant can amend it, withdraw it or add documents until the committee's report is issued.

• MOHAP: a UAE citizen or resident who is a mentally sane adult above the legal age of 21, or the patient's guardian, family member or authorised representative, with the complaint form and relevant medical documents.
• DHA: patients or care givers, whether UAE nationals, expatriates, residents or visitors, online and free of charge. The DHA service catalogue states that a complaint cannot be filed more than three years after the event.
• DOH: patients or their authorised representatives, including first-degree relatives of a patient who has died, through the DOH complaint management system, with Emirates ID, any power of attorney or death certificate and medical reports if available. The DOH also publishes a user guide for healthcare professionals using the system.
• Courts and prosecution: must pass medical-error cases, with their attachments, to the health authority.

The federal regulation sets no filing deadline, and the three-year limit is the DHA's own. A complaint can therefore reach you long after you have forgotten the patient, which is why the record you write today is your defence later.

UAE legislation seldom uses the phrase "professional misconduct". The DHCC regulation is the exception: it defines "Professional Misconduct" as conduct that constitutes "improper or inappropriate conduct affecting his provision of Healthcare Services", and separates it from "Inappropriate Professional Practice", conduct "below the Required Standard of Competence". The other authorities work from lists of prohibited acts and violations. Common concerns that lead to action, and where the rules deal with them:

"Dubai Schedule 4" means Schedule 4 of Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2024, a list of 62 prohibited acts for which the Medical Practices Committee imposes penalties. Item 16 lists "committing a malpractice" as a violation, and the DHA refers Medical Liability Committee decisions to the Medical Practices Committee (Art. 4).

The penalty scale depends on your profession and on who licenses you. Under the federal profession laws no penalty may be imposed without hearing your statements and defence, but failing to attend without an acceptable excuse does not stop a decision (Federal Law No. 5 of 2019, Art. 28; Federal Law No. 6 of 2023, Art. 13). In Dubai, penalties need not be applied in sequence (Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2024, Art. 19(d)), so a first finding can lead straight to suspension.

When a licence is revoked

• Physicians and dentists (federal): a new licence may be granted once the grounds for revocation no longer exist (Cabinet Resolution No. 67 of 2020, Art. 8). After a suspension of three to twelve months the authority may re-evaluate competence or restrict clinical privileges or practice (Art. 7.2).
• Nurses, midwives and allied health (federal): you may reapply once the grounds cease, and the authority can require mandatory training addressing the causes of revocation, a competence reassessment, a restricted scope of practice or practice under direct supervision for a set period; after a conviction involving honour or trust, proof of rehabilitation is needed (Cabinet Resolution No. 176 of 2025, Art. 11).
• Dubai: a revoked licence can be reissued only after two years from the decision, on review by the Medical Practices Committee, at the same professional title and not higher; no additions or upgrades are allowed with a suspension or revocation history (DHA Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals, s.24.2).

What a case does to your good standing

• National rule: the PQR defines a Good Standing Certificate as evidence that you have "not been found guilty of professional misconduct" and have no pending or previous disciplinary orders or criminal proceedings, and it must be no older than six months when you apply for a licence.
• DHA: the certificate reflects Medical Practices Committee and appeal decisions from the past ten years. While an investigation or appeal is in progress, or within two years of a warning, suspension or revocation, a Current Status Certificate is issued instead; later, a certificate "with disciplinary history statement".
• DOH: past or current suspensions, revocations, investigations and warnings are stated on the certificate.
• MOHAP: no certificate is issued to a person sentenced for a medical offence.

Moving emirate does not leave a case behind. The DHA can impose a precautionary suspension where another regulator has taken action (DHA Manual, s.23.2), and every new licence application needs a current Good Standing Certificate.

An interim suspension is a protective step, not a verdict, but it stops you working. Treat it as urgent and take advice the same day.

Check your licence expiry date as soon as a suspension starts and ask your authority, in writing, how the suspension affects renewal.

"Grievance" is the statutory word for challenging a report or a penalty (the DOH's service calls it an "appeal request"). Deadlines are short and run from the date you were notified, so ask for written proof of that date.

1. Find out exactly what has been opened. A medical-error complaint before a Medical Liability Committee, an administrative complaint, a disciplinary case, an inspection finding and an internal facility review are different processes with different consequences. Ask for the notice in writing and note the date you received it.
2. Diary the deadline from the table above, with a reminder a week before it.
3. Tell your insurer and get advice. Liability cover is compulsory and arranged by the facility owner, and the insurer steps into the rights and obligations of the insured (Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016, Arts 25 to 27). Follow the policy's notification terms and speak to a UAE lawyer before you send any written statement.
4. Follow your facility's process. Facilities must cooperate with the authority, and MOHAP asks the facility to respond to administrative complaints first. Tell your line manager or medical director through the proper channel.
5. Leave the record alone. Do not add to, change or delete anything in the medical file. If something genuinely has to be added, make it a clearly labelled, dated late entry under your facility's policy. Changing or deleting file data against DHA instructions is a violation in itself (Schedule 4, item 34).
6. Write a private chronology for your adviser while your memory is fresh: what happened, when, who was present, what you were thinking at each point.
7. Check the panel. If a committee member is related to a party, works under a party's supervision, treated the patient for the same condition or was consulted on the case, raise it (Cabinet Resolution No. 40 of 2019, Art. 12).
8. Attend when you are called. The committee's Rapporteur calls the parties to be heard, and in disciplinary proceedings a failure to attend without an acceptable excuse does not stop a decision.
9. Do not contact the patient or family about the complaint without advice, and do not discuss it with colleagues beyond what your facility's process requires.

Committees and disciplinary bodies decide mainly on paper. Your written response is often the most useful document you contribute, and a poor one can do harm. A structure that works for any authority:

1. Your background: profession, licence, role, setting and relevant experience.
2. A chronology drawn from the records, with dates and times, quoting the notes rather than recalling them.
3. Your clinical reasoning at the time: what you knew, what you considered and why you chose what you did.
4. A response to each point the complainant or authority has raised, in the same order.
5. Reflection: what you would do differently, and what you have already changed.
6. Evidence: training completed, audits, supervision feedback, changes to your practice.

Keep the tone factual and respectful of the patient. Do not blame colleagues without evidence; bringing a fellow professional into disrepute is itself a violation in Dubai (Schedule 4, item 18). Reflection and an admission of legal liability are different things, and your lawyer or insurer can help you show the first without volunteering the second, so have them review the response before it is sent.

Where an authority is weighing remedial measures such as training, supervised practice or reassessment, evidence that you understand what went wrong and have acted on it can help show the risk of repetition is low. It does not decide the outcome, and no course can.

Many complaints follow an incident the facility has already reported. Incident systems run on different rules from complaints and are built for learning, not blame:

• Abu Dhabi: under the DOH Incident Reporting and Management Standard (version 2, effective December 2024), staff report incidents in the facility's electronic system within 24 hours, and reporting "will not result in disciplinary proceedings, except in the most exceptional circumstances". Sentinel events go to the DOH within 48 hours, the root cause analysis and corrective action plan within 45 calendar days, and facilities must have a process for disclosing patient-safety events to patients and families.
• Dubai: the DHA Standards for Sentinel Events Notification and Management (ST-53) require notification to the DHA within 48 hours, a preliminary report within 72 hours and a final root cause analysis within 45 days. Facilities need an open disclosure process and support for staff involved in an event.
• Candour: the DHA Code of Ethics expects professionals, if harm occurs, to "promptly disclose the incident to the patient and initiate appropriate remedial actions".

A root cause analysis looks at systems; a Medical Liability Committee decides individual liability. The same facts can appear in both, so make sure what you say in each is accurate and consistent.

Training enters a UAE case in two ways. An authority may order it, as Dubai's Medical Practices Committee can under Executive Council Resolution No. 49 of 2024 (Art. 19(c)); or you may choose it yourself, to understand the standard that was in question and to show what you have changed. Ordered training is defined by the authority, and only it can say whether a course you took meets the order.

For a broad concern, the 4-hour core course for professionals facing a complaint, investigation or disciplinary action covers the UAE liability and disciplinary systems, insight, reflection and remediation evidence together. For a specific concern, the remediation courses page and the page for your authority match common concerns to topic courses. Prevention matters too: the course on avoiding patient complaints looks at the triggers that most often start a case.

Healthcare Practise is independent: our courses are not accredited by any UAE health authority, carry no CME/CPD points or credits, cannot change the outcome of a case and are not legal advice. Speak to your medical liability insurer, a UAE lawyer or your employer about your own case.