Dubai ambulances rolling out FRT to ID unconscious patients

By the middle of this year, a mobile application with a facial recognition feature which can identify patients in emergency situations by scanning their faces will be launched in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

With the system, citizens will not necessarily have to present their Emirates ID card before they can be identified.

The app, to be launched by the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS), was announced at the Arab Health 2025, an international healthcare exhibition and innovation event taking place from January 27-30 at the Dubai World Trade Center.

With the app, a patient in an emergency situation such as in a state of unconsciousness can have their face scanned by paramedics for their personal identification information to be retrieved, thanks to the system’s integration with the UAE national identity database.

Such information can be communicated to health facilities ahead of the arrival the concerned patient for medical attention.

A DCAS official, Marwan Ali Anbar, is quoted as explaining that the app will solve the challenge of officials having to identify patients especially when they are unconscious or not in possession of their national ID.

The app, he explains, “solves that by using facial recognition to instantly pull up patient information.” He adds that while the app for now is limited to specific medical emergencies, there are plans to expand its deployment given that the app proves faster in identifying patients than having to scan physical cards.

The facial recognition app has been developed at a time when another community app used to provide preliminary medical services to patients has had an upgrade. According to Anbar, the update is aimed at providing communities with critical knowledge about first aid processes to help them determine which cases require ambulance intervention.

These innovative technologies being developed in Dubai are part of a dynamic in the city’s digital transformation process where the deployment of biometric solutions in different sectors such as transport and shopping payments is taking center stage.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  Dubai  |  Emirates ID  |  facial recognition  |  mobile app  |  patient identification