Get doctor’s advice over the phone in UAE

Extended waiting periods at the doctor are a frequent complaint across the UAE, and to resolve this, a new service aims to put qualified doctors at residents’ fingertips.

The service, known as Mobile Doctors, uses a smartphone app and a toll-free number to connect callers with licensed physicians. These doctors can dispense primary health care advice, and recommend over-the-counter medicines to deal with common ailments.

“We want to eliminate the process of waiting to see a doctor for basic health care concerns, such as the flu and the regular cold. This would not only ease matters for patients, but also reduce the burden on health care facilities and specialists,” Ziad Alobeidi, medical director at the facility, told Gulf News.

The 24-hour service, which is registered with the Dubai Health Care City, currently has 43 member companies that pay for their own employees or clients to have access to the service. Individual users can also pay Dh10 each month to use Mobile Doctors.