Dubai Police says 75% of 999 calls were non-urgent, with pharmacy queries among misuse cases

Dubai Police has warned residents to keep 999 for emergencies only after recalling non-urgent calls that included pharmacy-opening questions, headache advice and one request for officers to join a caller for lunch.

The warning matters most for clinic COOs, pharmacy operators and insurer service heads because patient confusion over urgent care, police help and pharmacy access can push avoidable traffic into emergency channels. In Dubai, healthcare operators answer to the Dubai Health Authority (DHA); in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, the relevant regulator is the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH); in Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, licensing sits with the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP).

What Dubai Police said on 9 September

The Khaleej Times report, published on 9 September 2026, said the Ministry of Interior launched the annual Emergency Number Day campaign with Dubai Police and police headquarters across the UAE under the slogan Every Second Makes a Difference. The campaign tells residents to use 999 for immediate police emergencies and 901 for general enquiries and non-emergency police services.

Dubai Police has previously said about 75% of more than 5 million calls received on 999 in one year were non-urgent, according to Khaleej Times. In a separate 2019 report, Dubai Police said more than 75% of 535,109 calls to 999 in 2018 were non-emergencies.

“Do not dial 999 if the case is not serious enough and all non-emergency calls should be made to 901,” Dubai Police said in a previous public warning cited by Khaleej Times.

For patients, the operational distinction is simple. Call 999 when there is an immediate threat to life, safety or property. Call 998 for ambulance access where direct ambulance dispatch is needed, and 997 for Civil Defence fire emergencies. In Dubai, 901 is the non-emergency Dubai Police line.

Why clinics and pharmacies should treat this as a triage issue

The healthcare risk is avoidable escalation. A patient with a headache, a child with fever, a closed pharmacy or an insurance-network question may call the number they remember first. If that number is 999, the system absorbs a non-clinical triage burden before the patient reaches the correct provider.

Clinic COOs should review front-desk scripts, after-hours messages and WhatsApp auto-replies this week. The wording should separate emergency symptoms from administrative needs. A practical script should tell patients to call 999 or 998 for danger signs, contact the clinic for appointment or prescription questions, and check licensed pharmacy options through regulator directories or the UAE Open Healthcare Directory.

• Emergency: chest pain, severe breathing difficulty, major trauma, stroke symptoms, loss of consciousness or immediate safety threats.
• Clinic route: routine prescription refills, appointment changes, test-result questions and non-urgent symptom advice.
• Pharmacy route: medicine availability, opening hours, insurance acceptance and refill collection.
• Police non-emergency: Dubai Police 901 for general enquiries that do not require urgent response.

Pharmacy operators should add the same language to Google Business profiles, call-centre menus and delivery-app pages. The Khaleej Times examples show that pharmacy-opening questions have reached 999 before. That is a patient-navigation failure before it becomes a police workload problem.

Insurers and regulators have a role

Insurers also touch this workflow. Daman and Thiqa are material in Abu Dhabi, while Sukoon is a major UAE insurer. Their call centres and member apps should make emergency routing visible beside network pharmacy search, teleconsultation and claims-support tools. The finance issue is indirect but real: wrong-door care can move a minor case into a higher-cost emergency pathway.

No UAE-wide public tariff applies across all private clinics and pharmacies for the services mentioned in the police warning. Operators should avoid publishing invented patient-cost numbers. Instead, they should tell patients where to check: insurer network apps for covered pharmacy access, DHA facility search for Dubai licences, DOH facility lists for Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and MOHAP channels for northern-emirates providers.

The next step is internal audit, not a new campaign. By 30 September 2026, clinics, pharmacies and insurers should check their phone menus, websites, app copy and reception scripts against the 999, 998, 997 and 901 routing rules. For licensed pharmacy providers, readers should use the UAE Open Healthcare Directory before directing patients to a branch or delivery option.