Clinic and therapy practice advertising in Dubai: what the DHA standard allows

The Dubai Health Authority sets the content rules for the facilities and professionals it licenses. Its Standards for Medical Advertisement Content on Social Media took effect on 3 October 2022. On 17 August 2026 the DHA sent a circular to all private licensed facilities and professionals attaching that same document and warning of disciplinary action for breaches. Several news reports in September 2026 described the rules as new. The circular's own attachment is the 2022 standard, version 1.1.

The advertising licence sits with the federal Ministry of Health and Prevention. The DHA standard says a facility's official social media account shows its medical advertisement licence number provided by MOHAP. The International Bar Association's 2024 healthcare survey for the UAE gives the legal basis as Cabinet Resolution No. 7 of 2007 and lists the fees: AED 100 to apply, then AED 1,000 a month or AED 3,000 a year for a social media advertising licence. Check the current fee and process on MOHAP's service pages, since fees depend on the medium and the facility.

The UAE Media Council regulates the people who promote. Its Advertiser Permit became mandatory on 1 February 2026 for anyone posting promotional content on social media, paid or unpaid. Press reports of the rules list an exemption for people promoting their own products or a company they own. So a clinic posting on its own account sits inside the exemption, while an outside influencer promoting the clinic needs the permit.

Titles come first. A professional advertises only the title on the DHA licence, and states name, title, qualification and specialty exactly as licensed. The Dr. prefix is kept for physicians, dentists and holders of a recognised PhD attested by the UAE Ministry of Education.

Then the language. The standard lists terms to avoid, among them unique, the best, safest, the only, miraculous, assured success, has no side effects, get money back, 100%, famous, pioneer and immediate results. It rules out claims of superiority over other professionals or facilities, comparisons without published scientific proof, treatments that guarantee full recovery, and negative statements about other providers.

Fear is ruled out too. A practice may never advertise in a way that induces fear or concern to increase demand. Every advertisement has to be substantiated and include the associated risks.

Filming has its own limits: no filming or live streaming of surgery, of patients under general anaesthesia, or in procedure rooms. And the DHA or government logo stays off the material without written approval.

Dubai is more permissive here than regulators such as Ontario's psychotherapy college, which bans testimonials outright. The DHA standard prohibits patient testimonials without written patient consent, which leaves consented testimonials allowed. Anyone featured must give documented consent, limited to the subject and period agreed.

Before and after images are allowed under conditions. They show the same person, taken with the same lens, with no photo editing. They carry a statement that there is no guarantee the result will be the same, together with the risks, in the same font size as the rest.

A therapy practice should think past the rule. Written consent satisfies the DHA standard. It leaves the professional question open: whether asking a client in a therapeutic relationship for a public statement is appropriate at all. Many practices decide to do without, and build trust from specifics a client can check.

The standard makes the facility responsible for more than its own account. When a professional, an influencer or an administrator names the facility or its location, the Medical Director approves the content first. The facility is liable for anything filmed on its premises, personal accounts included. Paid relationships are documented and disclosed. And the Medical Director makes sure medical content and the benefits of procedures are presented only by a DHA licensed professional.

The federal media law adds its own layer. Press and law firm summaries of Federal Decree Law No. 55 of 2023 describe a duty to mark advertising clearly as advertising, and fines for content violations of up to AED 1 million. In September 2025 the Media Council took legal action against an account making unapproved medical claims.

For a practice that hires a marketing agency or a brand consultant, the consequence is direct. Their copy carries your licence. Hand them the DHA standard before they write a word, and keep the Medical Director's approval on file for each piece.

Mental health practice in Dubai is split between authorities. Published guides describe the DHA as licensing psychologists, including clinical psychologists, and the Community Development Authority as licensing counsellors and social care roles. Confirm which authority holds your licence, because the DHA standard described here binds DHA licensees, and CDA has its own conditions.

For a DHA licensed psychologist, two clauses do most of the work. Advertise the licence title and nothing wider. And use Dr. only with a recognised, attested PhD. A practice bio that reads Clinical Psychologist, with the degree and the licensing authority named, is both compliant and more convincing than an invented title.

Dubai Healthcare City is a separate jurisdiction with its own advertising policy and its own approval route, so a practice inside the free zone follows the DHCR process.

Take away best, only, guaranteed and fear, and most clinic marketing in Dubai has nothing left to say. That is the opening. On Sheikh Zayed Road or in Jumeirah, a patient comparing five clinics reads the same promises on each. The practice that says precisely who it treats, and shows the licence, the training and the process, is the one they can tell apart.

Specificity does the work the banned words used to do. A sentence such as physiotherapy for runners returning from knee surgery needs no superlative. It is factual, a patient can verify it, and it tells the right person they are in the right place.

Start with an audit. Mark every superlative, guarantee, comparison and unlicensed title on the website, the profiles and the last thirty posts. Then mark every sentence a competitor could publish unchanged. The first list is compliance work. The second is positioning work, and it is usually the longer list.