Shifaa Link UAE - healthcare referral platform design for Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Shifaa Link is a fictional healthcare technology company whose product automates referral intake, insurance eligibility and pre-approval. This edition is localised for the UAE: it speaks the market's language of insurers, TPAs, Thiqa, Emirates ID, DHA and DoH, and it follows UAE data protection and health data rules. It is a concept project, not a real company.

Project facts

• Client: Shifaa Link FZ-LLC (fictional)
• Sector: Healthcare referral and intake software
• Markets: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah
• Services: Market localisation · Copywriting · Brand adaptation · Healthcare SaaS website design · Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) · SEO foundations
• Templates: 14 page templates shared with every Shifaa Link edition
• Stack: Next.js (static export), React and Tailwind CSS; one region pack (copy, data, alt text) and one theme per market

The brief

Clinical, warm and local

UAE healthcare providers work with multiple insurers, TPAs and regulators, and referrals often arrive by fax, email or portal. The brief was to design a marketing site for a referral automation product that reads every referral, checks eligibility and pre-approval, and routes the patient to the right team. The voice is confident and specific, with UAE institutions and workflows front and centre.

Designing for the UAE

What actually changed between the US and this edition

• Story - US edition: US healthcare referral workflows · UAE: UAE referral workflows with insurers, TPAs and Thiqa
• Guide - US edition: US payer landscape · UAE: DHA and DoH regulation, Dubai Healthcare City and ADGM offices
• Prices - US edition: Not applicable · UAE: Not applicable (concept site)
• Homes - US edition: Product tabs: Intake, Eligibility, Routing, Outreach, Analytics · UAE: Same tabs, with pre-approval and Thiqa checks
• People - US edition: US team · UAE: Dubai and Abu Dhabi team, with UAE experience
• Legal - US edition: US HIPAA-style privacy · UAE: UAE PDPL, health data residency, DHA and DoH notes
• Look - US edition: Deep teal, coral, Plus Jakarta Sans and Inter · UAE: Sand, night teal and champagne gold; Cormorant and Manrope

Brand adaptation

The same Shifaa Link, with a local accent

Night teal carries the interface and champagne gold adds warmth to italics, with a lighter gold on dark panels. Cormorant brings grand display type; Manrope keeps the interface crisp. Corners stay sharp for a tailored feel, and the wordmark keeps Health. Arabic typefaces are already chosen for a future ar-AE edition.

Homepage, product and solutions

The homepage opens with a referral queue that reads itself: sample referrals from email, portal and scan are checked for eligibility and pre-approval, then routed. The product tour covers intake, eligibility and pre-approval, routing, outreach and analytics. Customer stories from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah show the workflow in local providers. The book-a-demo form is the main conversion path.

Compliance, accessibility and trust

• Privacy policy under the UAE Personal Data Protection Law, with a note that health data must stay in the UAE.
• Footer disclaimer that Shifaa Link is a fictional concept and not a healthcare provider.
• Demo form warning: do not enter patient health information.
• Sample trade licence and Dubai Healthcare City address.
• Passes automated WCAG 2.2 AA checks on every page at 360, 390, 768 and 1440 px: no contrast failures, no unreachable controls, no horizontal scrolling.
• A language switcher built from hreflang sits in the header on desktop and in the footer on phones.

One system, twelve markets

Every visible string lives in one region pack per market (copy, data and alt text), and every colour and typeface in one theme file. This edition needed no new templates or components: a region pack, a theme, local data and legal content made it a different brand experience. For a health-tech company with international plans, a new market becomes a content project rather than a rebuild.

Deliverables

• Market profile: language, formats, legal and seasonality
• Full localised copy across 14 templates, header, footer and forms
• Brand adaptation: palette, type pairing and logo descriptor
• 14 regional photographs (Pexels, credited in credits.json)
• Local legal content
• Accessibility pass (WCAG 2.2 AA, automated) and QA at four screen widths
• Portfolio media: stills, full-page captures, scroll video, OG image, brand board