As a visitor you will receive
medical care, but you will be
charged for it, so don’t leave
home without travel health
insurance� The standard of
medical services is quite
good�
For house calls, contact
health call (%04-363 5343;
http://health-call.com; per visit
Dh600-800), which will send
out Western-trained doctors
around the clock�
The following government
hospitals have 24/7 emer-
gency rooms:
al-Wasl hospital (%04-219
3000; oud Metha rd, south of
al-qataiyat rd, Za’abeel)
dubai hospital (%04-219
5000; abu baker al-Siddiq rd,
near cnr al-khaleej rd)
rashid hospital (%04-337
4000; off oud Metha rd, near
al-Maktoum bridge, bur Dubai)
For more information on all
Dubai hospitals, check the
www�dha�gov�ae government
health authority website� For
non-urgent care, contact the
following or ask your consu-
late for a referral:
al-Zahra Medical centre
(%04-331 5000; http://www.al-zahra
.com; al Safa Tower, Sheikh
Zayed rd, near emirates Tower
metro station)
american hospital (%04-
336 7777, emergency %04-
309 6877; http://www.ahdubai.com;
opposite Mövenpick hotel, oud
Metha) has a walk-in clinic (no
appointment needed) open
10am to 5pm daily, as well as
a 24-hour emergency room.
dubai london clinic
(%04-344 6663; http://www.dubai
londonclinic.com; Jumeirah
rd, umm Suqeim; h8am-7pm
Sat-Wed, 8am-5pm Thu)
Money
aTMs
Many credit and debit cards
can be used for withdraw-
ing money from ATMs that
display the relevant symbols,
such as visa and Master-
Card� Remember that there
is usually a charge (around
1 �5% to 2%) on ATM cash
withdrawals abroad�changing Money
If you need to change mon-
ey, exchange offices tend to
offer better rates than banks�
Reliable exchanges include
al-rostamani (%04-295
6777; http://www.alrostamani
exchange.com) and uae
exchange (%04-229 7373;
http://www.uaeexchange.com), with
multiple branches around
town at locations including
Mall of the Emirates, Dubai
International Airport and Ibn
Battuta Mall�
Currencies of neighbour-
ing countries are all recog-
nised and easily changed,
with the exception of the
Yemeni rial�credit cards
visa, MasterCard and Ameri-
can Express are widely
accepted at shops, hotels
and restaurants throughout
Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and
debit cards are accepted at
bigger retail outlets�Tipping
By law, only food and bever-
age outlets in hotels are enti-
tled to tack a service charge
(usually 10%) on to bills�
Independent restaurants are
not officially permitted to do
so, although many seem to
thumb their nose at the regu-
lation� unfortunately, the
service charge rarely ends
up in the pockets of the per-
son who served you, which
is why it’s nice to give them
a few extra dirham in cash if
they did a good job�Post
Your hotel should be able to
send mail for you, but other-
wise stamps are available at
local post offices operated
by emirates post (www
.emiratespost.com)� A letterto Europe costs Dh5, while a
postcard costs Dh3�25 and
a 1kg parcel costs Dh96� 50 �
Rates to the uS or Canada
are almost identical: Dh5� 75
for letters, Dh3�75 for post-
cards and Dh99 for the 1kg
parcel� Mail generally takes
about a week to 10 days to
Europe or the uSA, and eight
to 15 days to Australia�
Major post offices:
al-Musallah post office
(al-Fahidi roundabout, bur
Dubai)
al-rigga post office
(near Clock Tower round-
about, Deira)
central post office
(Za’abeel rd, bur Dubai)
dubai international
airport (h24hr) near Gate
1 8 of Terminal 1.
Jumeirah post office
(al-Wasl rd, Jumeirah)
satwa post office
(al-Satwa rd, Jumeirah)courier service
If you need to send some-
thing in a hurry, contact the
following courier agencies
for office locations and
hours:
aramex (%04-600 544 000;
http://www.aramex.com)
dhl (%800 4004; http://www.dhl
.co.ae)
fedex (%800 4050; www
.fedex.com)
ups (%800 4774; http://www.ups
.com)Public Holidays
Hejira is the Islamic New
Year� Eid al-Fitr marks the
end of Ramadan fasting and
is a three-day celebration
spent feasting and visiting
friends and family� Eid al-
Adha is a four-day celebra-
tion following the main pil-
grimage to Mecca, the hajj�
Secular holidays are New
Year’s Day (1 January) and
National Day (2 December)�
If a public holiday falls on ad
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