Recommended Free Tools
The UAE is building a connected digital-health system that links medical records, health information exchanges, digital services and data analysis across national and emirate-level initiatives. Its stated goal is to help clinicians and health authorities use information more effectively; official descriptions set out the intended benefits, but do not quantify how much health outcomes have improved as a result.
How is the UAE improving healthcare through information technology?
The UAE government describes digital health as the use of the Internet of Things (IoT), information and communication technology (ICT), and artificial intelligence (AI) throughout healthcare—from collecting patient data to predicting clinical outcomes. It says digitization is intended to reduce errors and improve patient care. The UAE government’s digital-health overview presents this as a broad direction, not a measured account of results.
In practice, the system is made up of connected but distinct layers: a national medical-record platform, emirate health information exchanges, digital services and initiatives to use health data for analysis. The names Riayati, NUMR, NABIDH and Malaffi refer to different parts or scopes of this landscape; they are not interchangeable labels for one system.
What is the UAE’s digital health system?
Riayati and the National Unified Medical Record
MoHAP describes Riayati as the National Unified Medical Record (NUMR), a digital platform intended to centralize medical records and support a connected clinical information system. Its stated capabilities include secure information exchange, interoperability, real-time access and data integration. These functions are meant to make relevant information more available across care settings, rather than leaving it confined to separate provider systems. MoHAP’s Riayati page describes the platform and its reported scale.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
#1 Best Overall
MoHAP’s Riayati page labels its displayed scale figures as last updated in October 2024. Those figures were 4.00 billion connected medical records, 14 million unique patients, 116,071 connected clinicians and 4,952 connected healthcare facilities. They are dated platform metrics, not current 2026 totals, and the counts themselves do not establish a clinical effect.
How the national and emirate systems connect
MoHAP says NUMR is integrated with Dubai’s NABIDH and Abu Dhabi’s Malaffi, as well as the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP). It also says vaccination details are shared with the Alhosn app through an interface using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), a standard for exchanging health information. MoHAP’s NUMR description explains these connections.
Interconnection does not mean that every system has the same purpose or that every record is necessarily available in every setting. The official descriptions establish named integrations and exchange functions; they do not specify every data element, access rule or clinical workflow across the whole network.
How do Riayati, NABIDH and Malaffi differ?
| System or initiative | Geographic scope | Described role | Evidence and qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riayati / NUMR | National | Medical-record platform for centralization, integration and exchange; MoHAP says it connects with emirate systems and ICP. | MoHAP’s scale block is dated October 2024; the integration description is on its NUMR page. |
| NABIDH | Dubai | Dubai’s health information exchange (HIE), supporting exchange of health information between public and private healthcare facilities. | DHA describes its exchange role, security policies and standards on the NABIDH portal. |
| Malaffi | Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi HIE named by MoHAP as integrated with NUMR; it is also referenced in the Department of Health’s digital-health partnership announcement. | These sources establish the connection and the initiative’s stated use, not a detailed current evaluation: MoHAP and Department of Health – Abu Dhabi. |
An HIE is infrastructure for exchanging health information among participating healthcare organizations. DHA says NABIDH supports secure exchange across public and private facilities and has adopted policies and standards to protect patient and provider privacy. The broader system depends on organizations being able to exchange and interpret information under appropriate rules—not simply on digitizing records.
Rank #3
What digital-health initiatives have Dubai and Abu Dhabi announced?
Dubai’s strategy and NABIDH
DHA’s Dubai Digital Health Strategy announcement set out objectives including digitizing the patient journey across care, establishing digital-health governance and policy, improving interoperability, using infrastructure and information management, applying analytics and AI, advancing research, and developing the digital-health ecosystem and workforce. These were announced strategy goals; the announcement does not show that every objective has been completed. The strategy announcement also positioned NABIDH in relation to the national Riayati effort.
The same historical announcement said all 52 Dubai hospitals had then onboarded NABIDH and described that as 100 per cent of the emirate’s hospitals. It forecast that clinics were expected to join by year-end. That is a dated announcement and forecast, not a current coverage figure.
Rank #4
Abu Dhabi’s Centre of Digital Health announcement
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health reported that it, Pure Health and G42 Healthcare had signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a Centre of Digital Health. The announcement said the centre would use Malaffi and Shafafeya to collect, process and analyse health and patient data. It documents the partnership and its announced purpose; it does not establish the centre’s current status or demonstrate measured effects. The Department of Health announcement is the source for those details.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does UAE policy say about AI in healthcare?
On 18 May 2026, the UAE Cabinet announced approval of the National Policy for Advancing Digital Healthcare Services and Artificial Intelligence in the Health Sector. The announcement describes a policy covering digital technology and AI in preventive, curative, rehabilitative and operational care, along with smart infrastructure, workforce capabilities, security, ethics and data governance. The Cabinet announcement records the policy approval.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteBest Value
- Book: deep medicine: how artificial intelligence can make healthcare human again
- Language: english
- Binding: hardcover
The Cabinet also approved drafting a federal law to regulate smart health applications and AI in healthcare. The announcement says the law is to be drafted; it does not establish that the legislation has been enacted.
What do the official sources establish—and what remains unmeasured?
The official descriptions establish the architecture, stated capabilities, policy direction and some dated scale figures of the UAE’s digital-health initiatives. They explain how connected records and exchanges are intended to support coordination, access to information and data-informed planning. They do not, in the sources cited here, provide a causal evaluation that quantifies improvements in clinical outcomes attributable to health IT. MoHAP’s statements about coordination and reducing medical errors, like the UAE government’s stated digitization aims, should therefore be understood as intended benefits rather than proven effect sizes. MoHAP’s Riayati description and the government’s overview present those aims.
Whether a connected system delivers those benefits in routine care depends on implementation: participating organizations must exchange usable information, protect it under clear privacy and security rules, and integrate it into clinical work. The UAE’s own strategy and policy descriptions emphasize interoperability, governance, workforce capability and data security as parts of that work.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
