If you have a medical emergency at hand, 999 is the number to call. Remember to remain calm and provide all the information required clearly. The emergency service operators are fluent in many languages and provide prompt services to the community. If you live in an independent house, wait outside till the ambulance arrives or keep the lights on to make identification easy.

If the emergency is in an apartment building, it is a good idea to have an attendant waiting in the lobby with the lift ready for emergency personnel to use as soon as they arrive. A few minutes can often mean the difference between life and death.

999 is the United Arab Emirate’s nationwide toll-free number that provides round-the-clock access to emergency help. Each call for assistance gets routed to a local Operations Room. The personnel handling calls are trained to find out the nature and location of the emergency and determine what services would be required.

In case of medical emergencies, a fully-equipped and manned ambulance is despatched and the patient is taken to the nearest suitably equipped hospital free of charge. All cases within Abu Dhabi are transferred to Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, one of the largest HAAD-operated hospitals in Abu Dhabi with a staff of around 4,000 and world-class acute care facilities.

The patient can also request to be taken to a private hospital of their own choice for a small fee. If you witness any potentially harmful anti-social behaviour, fire or road accident, call 999 and the appropriate personnel will be deployed immediately to handle the situation.

If someone you know has been transferred to a hospital in an ambulance, you can contact the Emergency number 999 directly and make an enquiry. They will provide information about the whereabouts and contact numbers of your loved one.

Emergency clinics

If you are able to move the patient, and if the problems are not critical, you could visit one of the four emergency clinics of the Emergency Services Institute:

• Surgical Pavilion of SKMC – ground floor, open 24/7
• Khalidiyah Urgent Care Center – near Khalidiyah Mall, open 24/7
• Al Ettihad walk-in clinic – open 8am until midnight
• Al Madina walk-in clinic – open 8am until midnight

The two walk-in clinics will be transformed into 24/7 urgent care centres similar to Khalidiyah at some time in the near future.

The Emergency Services Institute comprises Adult Emergency, Paediatric Emergency, and Urgent Care Medicine divisions with a total of 78 physicians and 170 nurses providing services in the four separate facilities spread over the city of Abu Dhabi.

Part of the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City complex, the Emergency Services Institute saw its millionth patient in May 2010. The Institute opened in March of 2000.

SKMC’s Emergency Department in the Surgical Pavilion is the principal trauma centre for Abu Dhabi city and is the likely destination for any ambulance calls– the hospital also has a helipad located a short distance from the Emergency Department for aero-medical evacuations. It consists of 44 treatment spaces, ten of which are allocated to paediatric emergency care.

The Khalidiyah Urgent Care Center is a modern facility that receives patients for problems that require immediate care, such as abdominal pains, coughs/colds/flu, earache/sore throat, eye problems, mild to moderate asthma, minor cuts and wounds, sprains and minor broken bones, sudden back pain, sudden rashes, and vomiting and diarrhoea in adults. It has 19 modern treatment rooms and a pharmacy. X-rays and some blood tests can also be performed at the Center.

Call 999 for help

The idea of having a nationwide three-digit number for people to contact during emergencies first originated in Europe in the early 1900s. It was nearly half a century later that this service became accessible to everyone and was adapted by virtually all countries across the seven continents. The principle behind the three-digits was to have an easy to remember number that would provide an array of public safety and medical services in any life threatening or non-life threatening situation. From medical emergencies to rescue operations and curbing crime, this one number was all people needed to know.

24-hour pharmacies

Most of the pharmacies in the Emirate have quite long opening hours, but some are open round
the clock: