ELEMENTAL is licensed by the Dubai Health Authority as a day surgical centre, licence number 5323888. A licence is not a formality and not a marketing line: it defines which procedures the facility may perform, which rooms it must have, which equipment must be present, and which specialists must be on site while a patient is under anaesthesia. The DHA inspects facilities against those requirements.

One clarification worth making, because the words are often mixed up in clinic advertising: in Dubai the DHA licenses facilities and practitioners. That is a different thing from international accreditation, which is a separate voluntary process run by other bodies. When a clinic says it is "accredited", it is fair to ask by whom, and to ask for the certificate.

Every doctor in the UAE holds a personal DHA licence tied to a specific title and scope — General Practitioner, Specialist or Consultant, in a named specialty. The title is not decorative. A Specialist Dermatologist and a General Practitioner working in aesthetics are licensed for different lists of procedures, and the difference matters most in exactly the procedures patients treat as routine.

You do not have to take anyone's word for this. The DHA register is public, and the check takes about a minute: we described the steps in how to check a doctor's DHA licence in Dubai. Before any procedure, it is reasonable to ask which doctor will perform it and to look them up.

At ELEMENTAL, procedures under anaesthesia are performed by the surgeon of the relevant specialty with an anaesthetist present. The doctor responsible for each service is named on the page for that service, not hidden behind the clinic name.

Before the procedure

Preparation is where most complications are prevented. It includes a consultation with the operating doctor, an assessment by the anaesthetist, and the tests required for your specific case. If a result falls outside the expected range, the procedure is postponed until it is resolved — a postponed operation is a normal outcome of preparation, not a failure of it.

You will also be told what the procedure involves, what recovery usually looks like, and what the risks are. Every intervention has them. A clinic that describes a procedure without mentioning risks is describing an advertisement, not a procedure.

Instruments, rooms and records

Single-use materials are disposed of after one patient. Reusable instruments go through a cleaning and sterilisation cycle under the applicable regulations, with the controls and records the regulator requires.

Your medical record is kept by the clinic and is confidential. It is shared outside the clinic only with your consent or where the law requires it.

If something does not go to plan

Day surgery is planned around the assumption that most cases are straightforward and some are not. The centre keeps emergency equipment and medicines on site, staff are trained for resuscitation, and there is an arrangement with a hospital for transferring a patient to inpatient care if that becomes necessary.

Knowing that route exists is more useful to a patient than any promise that it will never be needed.

To ask about a specific procedure, call or write on WhatsApp: +971 4 383 0500.

Author and medical reviewer: Dr. Olivera Nikolic, Specialist Dermatologist, Medical Director, ELEMENTAL Day Surgical Center. DHA licence 00197937-009. Reviewed 22 September 2026.