10,000 steps enter UAE obesity-drug reimbursement as Burjeel doctor says lifestyle care is required

GLP-1 weight-loss medicines should be prescribed with structured lifestyle support in the UAE, Dr Mohammad Fityan, group chief medical officer at Burjeel Holdings, told the Dubai International Pharma and Technologies conference on 26 August 2026.

The highest-stakes readers are clinic operators, insurers and medical directors. For Dubai clinics regulated by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the issue is clinical governance and follow-up capacity. For Abu Dhabi providers regulated by the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH), the issue now includes reimbursement design. For the northern emirates, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) licensing and medicine controls remain the frame for safe prescribing.

What Dr Fityan said

The National reported that GLP-1 medicines such as Mounjaro and Wegovy were discussed at the three-day Duphat pharma conference in Dubai. The drugs suppress appetite signals and help patients feel full for longer, but Dr Fityan said they should not be treated as a stand-alone fix.

“The medicine will give you 50 to 60 per cent of the solution; the other 40 to 50 per cent is on the patient,” Dr Mohammad Fityan, group chief medical officer at Burjeel Holdings, said, according to The National.

He said lifestyle plans need to cover diet, exercise, sleep and work patterns. The operational point is narrower than the public-health message. A clinic selling obesity treatment now needs a repeatable pathway: baseline assessment, prescribing decision, dietetics referral, activity monitoring, side-effect review and discontinuation rules.

Eligibility should be documented before the first prescription. Published obesity guidelines commonly use BMI 30 or above, or BMI 27 or above with a weight-related condition, as thresholds for anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. UAE providers should still check the approved indication, contraindications and payer rules for each product before coding the claim.

Why clinics and insurers care

The finance risk is that demand for GLP-1s can outrun both budgets and clinical follow-up. Public pharmacy pricing gives a working reference point, although final price depends on dose, stock and dispensing rules. Life Pharmacy listed Mounjaro KwikPen 2.5mg at AED 1,734 in Dubai. Gulf News reported in February 2026 that Ozempic pens in the UAE were commonly around AED 740 for lower doses and above AED 1,100 for higher doses, with Mounjaro often above AED 1,700.

Those figures matter because four weekly pens can create a monthly medicine cost that is material for self-pay patients and employers. Clinics should quote current pharmacy prices at the point of prescribing, record whether the medicine is for diabetes or obesity, and confirm whether dietitian visits, laboratory tests and follow-up appointments are covered under the patient’s plan.

• Clinics: build obesity pathways that include physician review, nutrition dietetics, lab monitoring and adverse-event escalation.
• Insurers: define entry criteria, renewal criteria and objective adherence measures before utilisation rises.
• Patients: ask for the monthly medicine cost, review interval and stopping rule in writing.
• Medical directors: audit off-label use, consent notes and documentation of lifestyle advice.

Abu Dhabi is already testing a more conditional model. Mediclinic says its personalised weight management programme is open to eligible Thiqa members aged 18 and above who are clinically identified as overweight or obese, with reimbursement linked to continued active participation. Dr Fityan also described a reimbursement programme that connects patient step counts to the clinic’s electronic medical record and requires 10,000 steps per day for reimbursement.

The UAE market signal

The wider burden is large enough to change provider strategy. The National cited a Whiteshield and Eli Lilly report saying an accelerated obesity programme could move projected UAE obesity prevalence from about 32 per cent by 2031 closer to the projected global level of 18 per cent. The same analysis said taking 1.2 million people in the UAE out of obesity could extend healthy lifespan by 6.8 years and free up $1.5 billion in health expenditure tied to chronic disease.

The counterpoint is conflict of interest and implementation risk. Eli Lilly manufactures Mounjaro, so operators should separate disease-burden analysis from formulary decisions. Step-count reimbursement also raises data quality and equity questions. Shift workers, patients with disability and patients with musculoskeletal disease may need alternatives to a single daily activity target.

The practical next step is a service-line review by emirate. Dubai providers should check DHA licensing, prescribing and NABIDH documentation workflows. Abu Dhabi providers should check DOH standards and payer requirements, especially for Thiqa pathways. Northern emirates providers should check MOHAP licensing status and medicine controls before marketing weight-loss services.

For referral planning, clinics and patients can use the UAE Open Healthcare Directory to find licensed nutrition dietetics providers across the seven emirates.