Starting video consultations at your clinic without breaking the licence

The diabetic patient who comes every three months to say his readings are steady, the mother who wants to ask about her son's blood test, the office worker who needs a short review of a treatment she has started — all of them cross the city and sit in the waiting room for a ten-minute conversation. A video visit saves them the trip, and gives the clinic hours it could not fill with visits in person.

But telemedicine is not an ordinary call with a camera. It is a health service with a licence and rules on identity, consent, documentation and prescribing, and the regulator asks about it as it asks about a visit in the room. This guide sets out what a clinic has to settle before the first call, what to look for in software, and how it connects to the patient portal the patient joins from.

Which visits suit video, and which do not

The simple rule: video works when what the patient says and what the doctor can see on screen are enough to decide, and it does not when the decision needs a hand or an instrument. The doctor decides in each case, and can turn the visit into an appointment in person whenever they judge it necessary.

It is worth each clinic writing this list for its own specialty, so reception knows when to offer the patient video and when not to. A dermatologist sees on screen what an ear, nose and throat doctor cannot, and a dental clinic may use video only for a first consultation before the patient comes in.

Licensing first: the clinic must be licensed for telehealth where it practises

• In Saudi Arabia: the Ministry of Health's published Legal Regulations for Telehealth Services say telehealth may be practised only by health care facilities the Ministry has licensed, and that private-sector facilities are licensed for it through the Ministry's licensing department before the service is switched on. The practitioner is still bound by their own professional licence and specialty, as the guide to SCFHS licensing explains.
• In Dubai: the Dubai Health Authority's Standards for Telehealth Services (issue 4, in force since November 2025) say the service may be offered only through a DHA-licensed facility, either a standalone telehealth centre or telehealth added to an existing facility's licence. The standard also expects the facility to obtain telehealth accreditation within a period it sets, and to use a platform that meets its technical requirements, including hosting inside the UAE; read the current issue for both.
• In Abu Dhabi: the Department of Health licenses the facility to provide telemedicine, under its own telemedicine standard.
• In the Northern Emirates: the regulator is the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP); check its current requirements for remote health services.
• Where the patient is matters too: the DHA standard requires a provider continuing care for a patient outside Dubai to meet the requirements of that jurisdiction. A patient calling from another emirate or from abroad may bring another regulator's rules into the visit.

Verifying the patient's identity at the start of every call

In the room, the patient stands at reception with their ID in hand. On a call, the face on screen may be the patient, a relative talking about them, or someone who opened a link that reached them. That is why the published Saudi regulations require sufficient evidence of the patient's identity before and during the service, and the DHA standard requires the consent to identify the patient with at least three identifiers, such as full name, date of birth, Emirates ID number or health record number. The safe habit is for the doctor to open every call by asking the patient's full name and date of birth and matching them to the file, to ask to see the ID when in doubt, and to ask who else is in the room. For a child, the conversation is with the parent or guardian, and their standing is checked.

Consent: before the call, and on the record

Consent to be treated by video is not the same as general consent to treatment. The patient should know what can be done remotely and what cannot, that the doctor may ask them to come in, that they may refuse or stop the visit at any time, and what happens if the connection drops. The published Saudi regulations require informed consent signed by the patient before the service starts; the DHA standard requires consent to be documented at each encounter, and written consent before any video is recorded. In practice the easiest way is an electronic consent form the patient signs on their phone before the appointment, kept in their file with its date, rather than a spoken yes that leaves no trace.

Prescribing at a distance: what is allowed and what is not

Prescribing after a video visit is broadly allowed, but within limits. The DHA standard excludes prescribing narcotic, controlled and semi-controlled medicines from telehealth, and requires the patient to be told which medicines cannot be prescribed remotely and the limits of prescribing without a confirming lab test. In Saudi Arabia, controlled medicines follow their own system whatever kind of visit it is. The safe rule for a clinic's doctors: no prescription for a controlled medicine after a call, no antibiotic for a new complaint that needs examining, and when in doubt, ask the patient to come in.

Documenting a video visit

• A video visit is written up like any other: the complaint, the history, what the doctor saw on screen, the assessment and the plan. The DHA standard requires every telehealth engagement to be documented for audit, quality and inspection.
• Say it was by video, so whoever reads the file a year later knows the examination was by sight, not by hand.
• Note how identity was checked, and who else was on the call, if anyone.
• Note what could not be examined and what you asked for because of it: a visit in person, a test, or a referral.
• The retention period does not change because the visit was remote; see the guide to medical record retention periods.

Privacy of the call

Both the published Saudi regulations and the DHA standard require a secure, private workspace that protects the privacy of personal information, of the conversation and of the consulting space. On the clinic's side that means a closed room where the doctor cannot be overheard, not a corner of reception. On the patient's side it means asking them to join from a private place where nobody can hear. Of the software, ask: is the call recorded? Is there a text chat that is kept? Who sees the patient's name? Where does the call travel? In the UAE this is a hard rule, not a question of preference: the federal law on ICT in health fields (Federal Law No. 2 of 2019, Article 13) does not allow health data to be stored, processed or transferred outside the country except in the cases its implementing decisions allow, and the DHA standard expects telehealth data to be hosted inside the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, PDPL restricts transferring personal data abroad. Ask your regulator in writing about any call that passes through servers outside the country, even if nothing from it is kept.

Billing and payment: before the visit or after

In the room, the patient pays at reception before or after going in. On video there is no reception desk, so the clinic needs a clear decision. Taking payment before the appointment protects the doctor's time from a patient who never joins, but it means an invoice issued before the visit, and a refund if the clinic cancels or moves the visit to in person. Taking payment after is simpler to invoice and easier on the patient, but it leaves amounts outstanding. Whichever you choose, tell the patient the price before the call. And if the patient is insured, the DHA standard requires the provider to verify insurance eligibility before delivering a telehealth service and to tell the patient in advance what they will pay themselves. Do not assume a policy covers a video visit as it covers one in person.

No-shows and late joins

A missed video visit looks different: the patient is not stuck in traffic, they cannot find the link, or open it on a phone that has not allowed the camera, or forget. The remedy is close to the one for missed visits in person: a reminder before the appointment carrying the join link itself, a second way in if the link is lost, and joining that opens a few minutes early so the patient can test the camera and sound. Set a rule for waiting: how many minutes the doctor waits before reception calls the patient, and when the visit is marked as a no-show. For scheduling generally, see the guide to clinic appointment scheduling software.

What to check in video consultation software

• Is the video visit part of the appointment and the file, or a call in another app whose content someone copies across by hand?
• How the patient joins: a link in the reminder? The patient portal? Do they need to install an app or create an account?
• Who can join: can a doctor join a colleague's visits? Does the link still work after the appointment is over?
• Recording and chat: is the call recorded? Are text messages in it kept? Who can switch either on?
• Where the call travels and who processes it, and whether that processor is named in the privacy policy and the data processing agreement.
• Paying remotely: can the patient pay the invoice by link, and where does the money go?
• What happens on a cancellation or a no-show: does the call close at once, or does the link keep working for whoever has it?

How 3yadtk handles video visits

Video visits in 3yadtk are off until the clinic's owner switches them on personally in Settings → Team & Access → Video visits; a manager cannot. They switch on only once the owner confirms that the clinic is licensed to provide telemedicine where it practises and that its doctors will verify the patient's identity at the start of each video visit, and who switched them on and when is kept. Staff book a visit as "Video", or switch an existing appointment before it starts; patients cannot choose video on the online booking page. The patient is sent the join link as soon as the visit is booked as video — by email, or on the clinic's own WhatsApp Business account if it is connected — and again in the reminder, and can also join from My appointments in the patient portal, in their browser with nothing to install, in Arabic, English or French; if the link cannot be sent, reception sees why and can copy it. The doctor starts the call from the appointment, the visit screen or the waiting list, and joins only their own visits; the call screen reminds them to verify the patient's identity at the start, and the patient is asked to join from a private place where they cannot be overheard.

Joining opens 15 minutes before the appointment, and the call closes an hour after the appointment ends. A room holds four people at most, there is no chat, and calls are not recorded — there is no Record button for anyone. The audio and video pass through Daily's servers in the European Union (Frankfurt by default), where the patient appears by first name only — which does not meet the UAE rule that health data stay in the country. A clinic in the UAE should not switch video visits on without its regulator's written approval, and a clinic in Saudi Arabia should confirm with its regulator first. Cancelling the visit or marking it a no-show closes the call at once, and switching the feature off closes every call without touching any appointment. Otherwise it is a normal visit: waiting list, note, prescription and invoice as usual, with a "Video" badge on the record. There is no telehealth-specific consent built in, but the clinic writes its own consent form and asks the patient to sign it by a link sent to them or in the portal, and the signed form is kept in their file. Payment before or after works: issue the invoice and send a pay link, the patient pays into the clinic's own Tap account, and it is recorded as a card payment by itself. 3yadtk does not stop a controlled-drug prescription after a video visit — that rule is the doctor's to keep — and it does not submit insurance claims electronically.