Health card for maid...information direct from Rashid Hospital

Hi Ladies,
Just a quick update of my experiences with clinic/hosp/health card for my maid.

Two weeks ago I called into Rashid Hosp to have a check-up for my maid ..she had bad tooth ache, ear ache and sore breasts. Was told there to go to Iranian Hosp for dental, and if she wanted to see doctor in hosp regarding breasts, charge would be 250aed (with or without health card) but she would be better off going to health care clinic as they could refer us back to hospital for an ultrasound and only charge 150aed for the referral visit. Also Rashid was an emergency access point and they only wanted to deal with emergencies and my maid's health was not an emergency to them. At all times staff were lovely and happy to give out information that might save us time and money.

Dental in Iranian Hospital was excellent. We paid 100aed for registration card and 750aed for root canal including antibiotics/painkillers etc and she was treated professionally at all times and hosp was spotless.

Last week went to Umm Suqeim clinic. Showed clinic the health card number (found on top of yellow vaccination card) and paid 150aed for visit. Lady specialist..very thorough.. referred us to Rashid for ultrasound. Text was sent to my husband's mobile (had forgotten to ask them to change contact details from sponsor to me) from Rashid Hosp with appointment date.

Unfortunately he deleted txt when he saw initial few lines assuming it was advertisement so we called back into Rashid hosp (on advise from clinic) to make new appointment and double check on need for health card (small print on ultrasound form said double payment if no gov health card). Went to desk marked Health Card. Gentleman said there that health card no longer necessary once we have health card number (usually on vaccination form from visa medical check-up) but if we really wanted a nice laminated shiny health card for 300aed we were very welcome. Living in Victory Heights (Sportscity) showed up Al Badaa as clinic location for us and he asked if I wanted to put Umm Suqeim on instead seeing I had already called in there. I offered a household bill to substantiate address but he said he didn't need it and keyed in Umm Suqeim in the computer system.

I expect to pay 500aed for ultrasound based on clinic charges in www.dohms.gov.ae and fingers crossed the news is positive.

So to clarify from my experience over the last couple of weeks.
Health card not required once you have health card number...same prices regardless.
Make sure you give them your mobile number for follow ups (or your maid's if her English is good)
Nothing is free.....there are charges relating to clinic visits and hospital visits/procedures/stays
You may need to bring in household bill (preferable DEWA) to clinic to confirm location so have handy anyhow and on first visit make sure to bring in maid's passport.
Iranian hospital really good for dental treatment (in our experience)
And on renewal of my maid's visa I will be looking around for private health insurance.

I'm sure other people probably had diff experiences but thought this might be helpful.

rgs
Margo