Camp Arifjan marks 30 years since Gulf War, raising pharmacy checks for UAE veteran patients

Six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers recalled their 1990-1991 First Gulf War service at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, a story that matters in the UAE because veterans, military contractors and older expatriate patients may present in Dubai clinics with chronic symptoms and complex medication histories.

The highest-stakes readers are COOs, medical directors and pharmacy leads. Their immediate task is practical: make military-service history, exposure history and medicine reconciliation part of intake for patients who served in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq or other Gulf theatres after 2 August 1990. In Dubai, that workflow sits under Dubai Health Authority (DHA) facility regulation; in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, under Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH); and in Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain, under Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) oversight.

What happened at Camp Arifjan

The U.S. Army Central report, published on 15 March 2021, said U.S. and Kuwaiti military leaders held a 10 March remembrance event at Camp Arifjan to mark Kuwait's liberation 30 years earlier. The story was written by Staff Sgt. Neil W. McCabe of the 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command.

The ceremony placed current U.S.-Kuwaiti military cooperation next to first-person accounts from soldiers who served during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Those dates matter for clinicians taking histories: Desert Shield ran from 2 August 1990 to 17 February 1991, and Desert Storm ran from 17 February to 28 February 1991. The formal armistice was signed on 11 April 1991.

"Until today, I still remember Operation Desert Storm." Brig. Gen. Mohammad Al Dhafiri, Kuwaiti Army Land Forces Commander.

For UAE providers, the event is a reminder about a defined population with exposure-linked health questions, now more than three decades older and often treated outside military health systems.

Why UAE clinics and insurers should care

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says more than 650,000 service members served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm from 2 August 1990 to 31 July 1991. VA public-health guidance links Gulf War service with medically unexplained chronic symptoms, including fatigue, headaches, joint pain, indigestion, insomnia, dizziness, respiratory disorders and memory problems.

That matters in Dubai first because private clinics and pharmacies often see mobile expatriates, defence contractors and visitors before any public-sector referral. A consultation for chronic fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance or gastrointestinal symptoms should capture military service and deployment dates. The same record should feed the medication review, because these patients may use analgesics, sleep medicines, gastrointestinal drugs, inhalers, antidepressants or controlled medicines prescribed abroad.

• COOs: add a Gulf service-history field to intake for patients aged roughly 50-75, especially when symptoms are chronic and multi-system.
• Medical directors: require clinicians to document differential diagnoses before labelling symptoms as Gulf War illness or chronic multisymptom illness.
• Pharmacy leads: check UAE registration status and controlled-drug rules before dispensing imported or foreign-prescribed medicines.
• CFOs: expect pre-authorisation and network checks when long-term medicines, imaging, specialist referral or rehabilitation are requested.

Insurers such as Daman, Thiqa and Sukoon require plan-level checks for Gulf War-related investigation or medicine. Coverage depends on the member plan, network, diagnosis coding, pre-authorisation rules and exclusions. Verify benefits before a long course of treatment, then record the insurer response.

Pharmacy implications in the UAE

The pharmacy question is concrete. A medicine used by a Gulf War veteran abroad may be unregistered in the UAE, registered under a different brand, or treated as controlled or semi-controlled. The current source of truth for registered products is the Emirates Drug Establishment drug directory. MOHAP's public medical facilities directory showed 4,000 results when checked in 2026, including pharmacies and medical warehouses across the northern emirates.

Operators should avoid quoting medicine prices from memory. UAE pharmacy prices can be checked through the Emirates Drug Establishment and MOHAP price-list services, or directly with a licensed pharmacy before dispensing. For controlled medicines, pharmacies should verify the prescription, prescriber eligibility, patient identification and any emirate-specific dispensing record requirements.

The next operational question is simple. If a patient says they served in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Iraq after 2 August 1990, the clinic should treat that as a structured history field. Dubai providers should verify DHA licensing and pharmacy status; Abu Dhabi and Al Ain providers should check DOH records; northern-emirates providers should check MOHAP records. Patients and operators can also use the UAE Open Healthcare Directory to find licensed pharmacy providers and confirm where to seek care.