Doctors are spearheading an exodus from the NHS in the UK to Dubai, to enjoy tax-free bumper pay packets – while showing off their new lives on TikTok.
Medics are being encouraged to join the throng taking up newly booming health roles in the United Arab Emirates, where recruits can pocket up to almost £300,000 a year.
Specialist firms are touting for business as interest surges, offering advice on all the practicalities involved in making the lucrative move – which can involve starting salaries of £54,000, almost double UK equivalents between £26,000 and £30,000.
And some of those shifting from Britain to affluent Dubai, where the ‘rapidly increasing’ population is prompting mass hospital expansion, have been encouraging others to follow in their footsteps on social media.
Medics celebrating their new surroundings have posted video clips dancing around health facilities in the Middle Eastern nation state.
There are also posts outlining in detail the differences between working in the health service in England and Wales and taking up home instead in the UAE.
Among the firms offering guidance on relocation is Harrogate-based Prospect Health, whose website highlights the UAE’s ‘rapidly increasing population’, described as ‘one of the highest in the world’.
The company tells prospective applicants that this has led to ‘healthcare facilities striving and competing to become the leading institutions in the region’.
Have you moved to Dubai from the UK, or back again, or are making plans? Email aidan.radnedge.mol@mailonline.co.uk
Cosmetic surgeon Dr Richard Devine is among medics posting on TikTok about life in Dubai
Nottingham-born family medical consultant Dr Tamara Aldawery moved to Dubai in late 2023
Plastic surgeon Dr Vivien Morris told of leaving for the UAE, ’embarking on an exciting new chapter in Dubai after years of learning, evolving, and teaching in France’s top hospitals’
The TikToker known as The Page Doctor has been outlining the tax-free benefits of the UAE
Cosmetic surgeon Dr Richard Devine, founder of the mobile aesthetic clinic Carriages of Harley Street, has been among those posting online about Dubai life.
He shared with his 145,000 TikTok followers a video titled ‘Meanwhile, Doctors in Dubai’, in which he is seen dancing around wards as well as the luxury towerblock-lined streets of the Emirati capital.
Behind him can be seen a red King Kong statue, created by sculptor and artist Richard Gorlinski, perched at the front of the luxury Grosvenor House hotel in Dubai.
Nottingham-born Dr Tamara Aldawery, who trained at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London, has told of moving to the UAE in 2023 and now working there as a family medical consultant while engaging on TikTok and Instagram.
Among the videos shared with her TikTok followers is one titled, ‘Why did you leave the UK?’ – beginning with shots showing piles of rubbish strewn on British streets and a packed A&E department, followed by sunny and celebratory Dubai scenes.
She has given another video the caption, ‘You’re living the life you prayed for, while in a further clip she tells viewers: ‘Prior to moving to Dubai I was working in London, seeing up to 30 patients a day with various disorders.’
Also shared on TikTok is a video by The Page Doctor consultancy, posing the question: ‘Is it better to be a doctor in London or Dubai?’
The narrator tells viewers how basic pay for medics in the UAE can start at £54,000, compared to UK levels of between £26,000 and £30,000.
Nottingham-born Dr Tamara Aldawery, who did her medical training at St George’s University in London, moved to the UAE in 2023 and now works there as a family medical consultant
She adds: ‘The cost of living in Dubai can be a bit higher but, as we know, it’s a tax-free zone.’
The UAE now has more than 40 public hospitals, compared to just seven back in 1970, prompting an enhanced recruitment drive for new GPs above all.
Online guides suggest health service employees can typically earn a starting wage of £4,400 per month, or £52,800 a year – with average earnings put at £9,000 monthly, £108,000 annually.
And consultancy roles can attract pay of £23,000 each month, tallying up to as much as £276,000 per year.
This amounts to even more than some advisors urging people to consider a move to the UAE who say salaries tend to be at least 20 per cent higher than equivalent offers in Britain, even before taking into account the tax-free circumstances.
The NHS pay scale for consultants, for 2024-2025, ranges from a basic salary of £105,504 when starting out to £139,882 for those with at least 14 years’ experience – so the top rate in Dubai can be nearly double.
Meanwhile, the average pay for employees across the health service here was £39,898 last November, according to the latest official figures – down by 0.8 per cent, or £328, compared to 12 months earlier.
The NHS workforce reached 1,368,655 that month, a three per cent increase – that is, 40,053 extra people – when contrasted with November 2023.
She is among the medics sharing videos on TikTok with the #doctorsindubai hashtag
The social media video site has medics sharing footage of their arrival in Dubai from Britain
But social media posts attest to plenty of people giving up health positions in Britain for the United Arab Emirates instead, tempted by higher and untaxed pay.
The British Medical Association’s jobs website currently advertises positions in Dubai for consultant cardiologists and consultant paediatricians.
The recruitment firm sharing the ads describes the UAE as a ‘dynamic and modern country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula which offers a safe and family-friendly expatriate lifestyle, with world-class shopping, dining, museums, cultural events, and a vibrant social and sporting scene’.
Meanwhile, Prospect Health tells people pondering such a move: ‘Whilst most of the health provision is government funded there is also a rapidly growing private sector.
‘Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Al Ain are the three major and most well known areas, all of which offer everything modern expat families look for: Beaches, the sea, large cities, excellent shopping and a progressive lifestyle.
‘You can even dive for pearls and see some of the world’s most famous bands and DJ’s playing live in impressive venues and beach parties.
‘The opportunities to work as a Physician / Doctor in the UAE are considerable and it’s a well-respected place to practice.’
And medical accountants Nichols & Co said: ‘The primary draw for many doctors moving to Dubai is the chance to earn a tax-free income.
‘In the UK, medical professionals often find that a significant portion of their salary goes toward income tax, national insurance contributions, and other deductions.
‘Dubai’s zero-income tax policy allows doctors to retain more of their earnings, creating opportunities for greater savings and investments.
UK-based Dr Abdul told his TikTok followers why he would not be moving to the Middle East
A student doctor shared footage on TikTok of his arrival after landing at Dubai’s main airport
‘Additionally, the city’s modern healthcare infrastructure and patient diversity offer a rewarding environment for doctors to apply and expand their skills.’
They also told how many doctors ‘also appreciate Dubai’s warm climate, luxury lifestyle, and robust expat communities, which provide a supportive environment for those transitioning to life in a new country’.
The firm added: ‘With all these advantages, the city is well-positioned to attract top medical talent from around the world.’
And medical recruitment agency Workplace Doctors highlighted healthcare as being ‘one of the fastest growing sectors in the Middle East’ – with governments also including those in Qatar and Saudi Arabia increasingly pushing to expand services and especially consultant opportunities.
Among those sharing TikTok videos about their moves to Dubai are a junior doctor going by the name HJSWorld, who recorded his arrival at the city’s main airport – saying to his 13,000 followers: ‘Fly with me to my Dubai elective.’
And the incomers are not only from the UK, with plastic surgeon Dr Vivien Morris posting a message telling his 57,000 TikTok followers: ‘Embarking on an exciting new chapter in Dubai after years of learning, evolving, and teaching in France’s top hospitals.’
A counterpoint has also been posted on TikTok by British-based Dr Abdul, whose account has the name @lifeofaGP – as he explained why he would not want to join those moving to the Middle East.
He was responding to a commenter who said: ‘Why don’t you go abroad? All my GP friends are making silly £ in Saudi.’
Dr Abdul told his 23,000 TikTok followers: ‘It’s not the money – it’s the fact it’s such an unequal society.
‘Yes, in the UK there’s a lot of poverty but people are still relatively equal and treat each other with respect, but in those countries that doesn’t happen.
‘You can chase money wherever you want but ultimately money’s destined for you – if you’re going to get good money, you’re going to get good money.
‘But it’s the happiness and what you agree with that matters the most and I don’t want to live somewhere like that – unless they change their ways, then really to be honest the Middle East doesn’t attract me.’
Figures previously obtained by MailOnline revealed almost 7,000 doctors applied for documents to support an application to work abroad from the British medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), in 2022 – up from 6,100 in 2019.
And the latest statistics from the Nursing and Midwifery Council show that 24,404 of their members – both public and private sector employees – asked between January 2023 and March 2024 for a Certificate of Current Professional Status, a necessity for applying to practice overseas.
In a survey of leavers, the NMC found 75 per cent were intending to work abroad – with 40 per cent citing concerns over pay and benefits here as their main motivation.
This was accompanied by 28 per cent highlighting workload problems, 27 per cent staffing levels and 26 per cent feelings of burnout or exhaustion.
A poll of junior doctors in the UK suggested one in three were pondering a move overseas
The boom in healthcare roles tempting people from the UK to the UAE follows similar ‘brain drain’ moves to Australia in recent years – with doctors and nurses also taking to social media to boast of their ‘much happier’ lives Down Under.
Surveys have suggested that one in three junior doctors in the UK have told of planning to work abroad, leaving the struggling NHS even more exposed.
A poll found that 42 per cent of those looking to move overseas had set their sights on Australia, 20 per cent on New Zealand and nine per cent apiece on the Middle East, Canada and Europe.
Junior doctors did reach a deal with the Government last September to end a series of strikes, accepting a 22 per cent pay rise – though warned of more walkouts ahead if wages did not keep increasing.
MailOnline has contacted the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council for comment and further figures, as well as the doctors who have posted the TikTok videos about life in Dubai.
