Ambulance number in Dubai: 998, and what happens next

The emergency numbers in the UAE

The UAE government portal lists one set of emergency numbers for the whole country, and Dubai’s own portal gives the same numbers.¹²

Neither 112, the European emergency number, nor 911 appears on these lists,¹² and we found no official statement that either is forwarded to a UAE emergency service. Save 998 and 999 instead. In Dubai, the ambulance service takes emergency reports through both numbers.³

Where you are matters as much as what happened. The UAE’s Advanced Mobile Location service sends a caller’s position automatically to the police, where it arrives within 5 to 12 seconds. According to the government portal, it is activated for 999 and 998 on Android phones, but on iPhones only for 999.⁸

What the dispatcher needs from you

Ambulances in Dubai are run by the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS), which by law also operates the emirate’s ambulance command and control centre.⁹ Its service description asks the caller for details such as the location and the type of emergency, and the nearest suitable ambulance is then dispatched.³

DCAS paramedics interviewed by Gulf News advise callers to have these details ready:¹⁰

• The area, the street and a landmark nearby¹⁰
• The name of the building, and the floor or room¹⁰
• What happened, and how many people need help¹⁰
• How serious it is, including whether the patient is conscious¹⁰

The Makani number

Every building in Dubai has a Makani number, a unique 10-digit code that can also be searched on Google and Here maps.¹¹ Dubai Municipality is extending the system to individual units inside buildings, with a plate on each unit that is linked to the essential authorities, particularly for emergencies.¹² If you are staying in a villa or a residence, note its Makani number when you arrive.

The Dubai Ambulance app

DCAS’s app is listed in Apple’s App Store as Dubai Ambulance; the government portal still calls it the DCAS SOS app.¹³¹ After registering, with only a phone number mandatory and a medical file optional, the SOS button requests an emergency ambulance around the clock.³ The app determines the patient’s location if location access is enabled, and it also serves people with hearing or visual impairments.¹¹⁰

At Dubai International and Al Maktoum International airports, DCAS can also be reached on its airport line, +971 4 504 5007.³

How quickly an ambulance arrives

In February 2026, DCAS reported an average response time of approximately seven minutes in 2025, and said it is working towards four minutes by 2033.⁴ The figure is an average for the whole emirate; the announcement does not say where the clock starts and stops, or how the time varies by district and hour.

For Eid Al Fitr 2025, DCAS deployed 723 staff across 138 ambulance points, with ambulances, fast-response vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and marine ambulances, and air ambulances flown together with the Dubai Police Air Wing.¹⁴

Where the ambulance takes you

Whether a patient is taken to hospital or treated at the scene depends on how the case is classified and on the crew’s assessment, and the patient is told the result. If transport is needed, the patient is taken to the nearest health facility.³

According to the government portal, a hospital accepts emergency patients for initial treatment and may then transfer them to a better-equipped hospital, and visitors can be treated at private and at government hospitals.¹

We found no published rule on whether a patient can choose the hospital. If a particular hospital matters to you, for example because it already holds a family member’s records, settle that with the hospital and your insurer before the trip, not in the ambulance.

Emergency treatment cannot be refused

Under the UAE’s federal law on medical liability, a doctor may not refrain from treating a patient in an emergency.⁶ Dubai’s 2024 rules for the health professions list abstaining from or discontinuing emergency treatment as a violation,¹⁵ and Dubai’s health insurance law obliges providers to treat an insured patient in an emergency, even outside the insurer’s network, until the patient’s life is no longer threatened.¹⁶ The government portal adds that treatment to stabilise an emergency is free.¹

What an ambulance costs in Dubai

Dubai’s ambulance fees are set by Executive Council Resolution No. 1 of 2018. In an emergency, DCAS bills the patient’s health insurer, and the resolution rules out charging the patient any share of the fee, under any circumstances.⁵

A patient who turns out to be uninsured, or whose insurance has expired, receives the service free of charge.⁵ Injuries from traffic accidents fall outside this schedule: for them, DCAS collects AED 6,770 from the insurance of the vehicle that caused the accident.⁵³

Neither the resolution nor DCAS’s guide distinguishes between residents and visitors,⁵³ and we found no DCAS statement on how it bills a foreign travel insurer.

Transfers that are not emergencies

For bedridden and dependent elderly patients, DCAS runs a patient transfer service for stable cases; an unstable patient needs a medical escort from the sending facility.¹⁷ It is free for UAE citizens. Other patients pay per trip, plus two fees of AED 10 each:¹⁷

• AED 500 by regular ambulance within Dubai¹⁷
• AED 800 by specialised ambulance within Dubai¹⁷
• AED 1,000 by regular ambulance from Dubai to another emirate¹⁷
• AED 1,300 by specialised ambulance from Dubai to another emirate¹⁷

Booking requires a copy of an Emirates ID or a UAE passport, and DCAS’s guide asks for 24 hours’ notice.¹⁷³ Private providers need a permit from DCAS to offer ambulance services in Dubai,³ and the Dubai Health Authority licenses patient transfer centres that move patients by road, air or water.¹⁸

Visitors and health insurance

Health insurance valid in the UAE is a condition for visit, tourist and treatment visas applied for before travel,¹⁹ and Dubai’s single-entry tourist visa requires medical insurance valid in the UAE.²⁰ For nationalities that receive a visa on arrival, the government’s visa page names no insurance requirement.²¹

Without insurance, the emergency ambulance and the treatment to stabilise the patient are free; treatment beyond that is paid by cash, card or insurance.⁵¹ If you may need to be flown home, check that your policy covers medical repatriation; the published costs of such flights are set out in our guide to air ambulance costs.

Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates

The emergency numbers are the same in every emirate, but different services answer them.¹

• Dubai: the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services⁹
• Abu Dhabi: the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Authority, which provides public ambulance services and the emergency medical response in the emirate²²
• Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain: National Ambulance, which runs the 998 service there from 60 locations and has its own app, NA 998²³

In Abu Dhabi, the police app AD999 can also request an ambulance with an SOS button, and the Department of Health’s Istijaba line, 8001717, connects patients to its medical operations command centre.¹ The fees described in this guide are Dubai’s.

Before you travel: a short checklist

1. Save 998 and 999 in every phone, and tell everyone travelling with you that 112 and 911 are not on the official lists.¹
2. On an iPhone, only 999 sends your location automatically; for 998, have the address ready.⁸
3. Install the Dubai Ambulance app and register before you need it.³
4. Note the Makani number of the villa or residence where you will stay.¹¹
5. Check that your health insurance is valid in the UAE, and whether it covers medical repatriation.¹⁹
6. Decide which hospital you would want, and keep a list of medicines and recent medical records with you.

How Shadow ICU prepares a family’s stay in the Emirates is described on the Dubai page.