How we decide
The DIFC Data Protection Law says we should keep personal data only for as long as needed for the purpose we collected it. When that purpose ends, we must delete it, anonymise it or put it beyond further use, unless we have a legal reason to keep it.
Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 on technology in health fields, and DHA rules, set a separate minimum for health records. That minimum applies even if you ask us to delete your data.
Retention schedule
| Type of data | How long | Why | What happens at the end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health records: consultation details, prescriptions, lab orders and reports, referrals, medical history and health documents in your record | At least 25 years from your last health procedure or encounter | Legal duty: Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 and DHA Standards for Telehealth Services | Reviewed, then securely deleted or anonymised |
| Consent forms for care, including telehealth, signature and audit details | Kept with the health record, so at least 25 years | Legal duty, because DHA rules make consent part of the health record, and proof that consent was given | Securely deleted with the record |
| Records of acceptance and non-health consents, such as terms and marketing choices | While the account is open, then 6 years after it closes | To prove what you agreed to and to deal with legal claims | Deleted |
| Payment and tax records: amounts, receipts, invoices and payouts | At least 7 years | Legal duty: UAE tax law | Deleted or anonymised |
| Card details | Not held by us. Stripe keeps them under its own terms if you save a card | Payment | Not applicable |
| Account and profile details | While the account is open. After closing, details linked to a health record stay with it, and the rest are kept for 12 months | To provide the service, to let you reopen an account closed by mistake, and to identify the patient in a record | Deleted or anonymised |
| Identity document scans (Emirates ID, passport) | Until verification is no longer needed, and no later than 12 months after the account closes, unless the document is part of a health record | To verify identity and support your cover | Deleted |
| Wearable and health app data, daily check-ins and mood logs | While the feature is in use. Deleted within 12 months of disconnecting or closing the account, unless used in clinical care | Your consent, to show you trends | Deleted |
| Precise location on Hajj and Umrah group programmes | 30 days | Safety features for the group | Automatically deleted |
| Delivery addresses and order details | 7 years with payment records, unless part of a health record | To deliver and to deal with complaints | Deleted |
| Support messages, complaints and data protection requests | 3 years after the matter closes | To help you and to deal with legal claims | Deleted. Anything about a health record stays with that record |
| Messages through the Nour assistant | Not saved on our servers. Only errors may be logged | Your consent, for that chat | Ended when you leave the chat. The AI provider keeps messages under its own terms |
| Medication reminder logs | 7 days | To send your reminders | Automatically deleted |
| One-time codes, password reset and sign-up links | Minutes to days. One-time codes last 10 minutes | Security | Automatically deleted or invalid on expiry |
| Activity logs: sign-ins, messages sent, errors and important actions | Detailed logs for 90 days, daily totals for 1 year | Security, investigations and fixing faults | Automatically deleted |
| Staff lists from employers | While the benefit contract runs, then 90 days after it ends, unless the contract or law says otherwise | To run the benefit, as the employer's processor | Deleted or returned to the employer |
| Marketing contact details and preferences | Until you opt out or withdraw, and then only a short "do not contact" record | Your consent, and to respect your opt-out | Deleted, apart from the "do not contact" record |
| Enquiries from contact and partner forms | 24 months after last contact | To reply and to follow up | Deleted |
| Website analytics | As set in our Google Analytics account | To understand how the site is used | Deleted by the provider |
| Backups | For as long as our backup schedule keeps them | To recover from failure | Overwritten. Data in a backup is not restored into normal use after being deleted |
A period may be longer if the data is needed for a legal claim, an investigation or a regulator's request, and only for as long as that lasts. Facilities, employers and insurers keep their own records under their own rules, so please ask them about those.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account in the app: log in, go to Profile and choose Delete Account. Here is what that does.
- Your account is closed. You can no longer sign in, and your profile is removed from normal use. The same happens to dependants linked to your account.
- You can no longer manage bookings or benefits from that account. Sort out any booking you still need before you close it.
- Health records, consent forms and payment records we must keep stay stored until their period in the table ends.
- Other data is deleted or anonymised according to the table. This does not happen automatically when you close your account, so you can also ask us at support@medicai.ae.
If you closed your account by mistake, contact us as soon as you can and we may be able to reopen it.
If you ask us to erase your data
You have a right to ask for erasure under the DIFC Data Protection Law. That right does not apply where the law requires us to keep the data, or where we need it for a legal claim.
So when you ask:
- We erase what we have no duty or other lawful reason to keep, such as marketing data, wearable data and optional profile details.
- We keep health records, care consents and payment records for their legal period. We stop using them for anything else, restrict access to them and tell you what we kept and why.
- We tell you within one month, or up to two months longer for a complex request, with the reason.
- We tell others who received the data to erase it too, where possible and required.
- You can go to the DIFC Commissioner of Data Protection if you disagree. See the privacy policy.
To ask, email support@medicai.ae with the subject line "Data protection request", call +971 56 991 1993 or use our contact form. For the official clinical record, we will also direct you to the facility that treated you, because it has its own legal duty to keep it.
What "put beyond further use" means
Sometimes data cannot be fully deleted straight away, for example while it sits in a backup. Until then, we keep it secure, do not use it for any other purpose, and delete it when we can. Anonymised data no longer identifies you and is no longer personal data, so we may keep it.
Changes
We review this schedule at least once a year and when the law changes. The date at the top shows the last update. Our privacy policy has more about how we use your data, and our security policy explains how we protect it.