Open your Clinic in Dubai, UAE
Opening a medical clinic in Dubai means running two licenses in parallel, clearing a floor plan through DHA before you’re allowed to sign a lease, and coordinating medical clinic fit outs that have to meet clinical standards, not just design ones. Miss a step in that sequence and the delay usually costs months, not days.
OnTime Healthcare has taken more than 350 healthcare facilities through this exact process, from general practices and dental clinics to specialty centers and rehabilitation units. We manage the medical clinic set up end to end: DHA and DET licensing, medical clinic interior design Dubai investors expect, medical clinic fit outs, clinic license documents, staff recruitment, and the compliance work that keeps a facility running after opening day.
Clients typically come to us at one of two points, either before they’ve signed anything, or after a location or design choice has already run into a DHA objection they didn’t see coming.
We take pride in delivering excellence across a wide range of healthcare segments. Our experience covers:
We support complete medical clinic setup for dental practices. Our team ensures your space is efficient, and compliant, making your new clinic setup smooth and stress-free.
Our clinic compliance services ensure all regulations are met while helping you setup medical clinic in Dubai with confidence and ease.
As one of the leading clinic setup companies in Dubai, we handle everything from design to licensing.
Our team manages the documents required for opening a clinic in Dubai and ensures your new clinic setup is attractive and fully compliant.
Our clinic compliance services make the process simple while ensuring your medical clinic setup is completed without delays.
Hospital projects are complex and require expert planning. We provide end-to-end solutions to setup medical clinic in Dubai.
We help design and establish rehablitation center focused on patient comfort. Our team ensures all documents required for opening a clinic in Dubai are handled properly for a seamless new clinic setup.
Managing multiple specialties in one facility requires careful planning. Our expertise in medical clinic setup ensures smooth coordination, making us one of the most reliable clinic setup companies in Dubai.
We create safe and supportive environments for mental health services. With our expert clinic compliance services, your medical clinic setup meets all regulatory standards.
Dubai Health Authority licenses health facilities under set categories, and the category you apply under decides your design requirements, your staffing and the scope of your inspection. Choosing the wrong category at the start is one of the most common reasons an application has to be reworked. OnTime Healthcare confirms your category against DHA’s own list before anything is filed.
| Category / Facility Type | Facility Types |
|---|---|
| Hospital | General Hospital, Specialty Hospital |
| Outpatient Health Facility | General Clinic, Polyclinic, Specialty Clinic, Dental General Clinic, Day Surgical Center, Express Clinic, School Clinic, Nursery Clinic, Fertility Center, Psychiatric Centre, Oncology Center, Renal Dialysis Center, Sleep Medicine Centre, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Centre, Thalassemia Center, Medical Fitness Center, Tele-health Center |
| Diagnostic Center | Medical Laboratory, Radio-Diagnostic Center, Diagnostic Center (Multiple Specialties) |
| Pharmacy | Community / Retail Pharmacy, Hospital Pharmacy, Ambulatory Pharmacy, Drug Store |
| Specialized Units | Mobile Facility, First Aid Unit, Blood Bank Service Center, Cord Blood & Stem Cell Center, Patient Transfer Services Center, Home Healthcare Agency |
| Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine | TCAM Centre |
| Clinical Support Facility | Clinical Support Center |
| Long-Term Residential Healthcare | Convalescence, Nursing Home, Hospice Facility, Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Center |
Dubai has two separate healthcare regulators, and the one you fall under changes who licenses you, which rules apply and how your facility is inspected. This decision comes before company formation, because changing it later means starting the licence again.
| Route | Who Licenses You | What This Means |
|---|---|---|
| Dubai Mainland | Dubai Health Authority (DHA), through the Sheryan portal | DHA's facility categories, Health Facility Guidelines and inspection process apply to you. |
| Dubai Healthcare City | Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA) issues the commercial licence. Dubai Healthcare City Authority – Regulatory (DHCR) is the healthcare regulator. | DHCC runs its own licensing system with its own permitted activities and licensing categories, separate from DHA. |
A clinic licence in Dubai is issued across two separate applications on Sheryan, DHA’s licensing portal. The first gets you a licence with inactive status. The second activates it after inspection. Knowing which one you are in tells you what you can safely spend money on, and it is the single thing most first-time owners get wrong.
| Application | What Happens | Where It Leaves You | How OnTime Healthcare Helps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. New Facility Licence Application | You submit your facility proposal, engineering layout and owner documents on Sheryan and pay the fees. DHA reviews the submission. | Approved applications are issued with an inactive facility licence. | We confirm your category, prepare the proposal and check every document before it goes in. |
| 2. Activate Facility Licence Application | You request inspection once the facility is built. DHA inspects the facility. | Your licence becomes active and you can operate. | We run a pre-inspection walkthrough and attend the DHA inspection with you. |
DHA offers a simple route and an enhanced route to the same licence. The enhanced route has more submissions, but it lets you get design feedback before you commit to full engineering and construction spend. For most first-time owners that is the cheaper route, not the slower one.
| Route | Submissions, in Order | Best Suited To |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | New Facility Licence Application, with detailed design → Activate Facility Licence Application | Projects where the design is already settled and the space is known to be suitable. |
| Enhanced | New Facility Licence Application – Schematic Design Submission → New Facility Licence Application – Detailed Design Submission → Activate Facility Licence Application – Pre-Inspection Assessment → Activate Facility Licence Application – Final Inspection | Projects that want design feedback early, so that financial risk is minimised before full construction spend. |
These are the documents DHA’s New Facility License service lists. We prepare them, check them and submit them with you, so the application is not returned before it is even assessed.
| Document | What DHA Expects |
|---|---|
| Owner and Partner Passport Copies | Valid copies, with Emirates ID where applicable. |
| Engineering Layout | Prepared by an engineering or design company. |
| Facility Proposal | Completed on DHA's own template. |
| Trade Licence | Optional at this stage — DHA lists it as "if available". |
| Electronic Medical Record | Must be compliant with NABIDH standards. |
DHA requires a medical director to be appointed before your licence can be activated, and the role cannot stay vacant once you are operating. This is often the item that holds a licence up after the premises have already passed inspection.
| Requirement | What DHA States | How OnTime Healthcare Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment | A medical director must be appointed before the facility licence is activated. | We run the medical director’s DHA professional licensing application alongside the facility file, so neither waits on the other. |
| Continuity | The medical director must not be vacant from their duties for more than two weeks. | We plan cover before it becomes a problem. |
| Cover | If the absence is longer, the facility must designate the medical or clinical director role to another suitably qualified and licensed health professional. | Our medical recruitment team sources licensed cover. |
Most delays are not caused by DHA. They are caused by work that started before the right approval was in place, or by a decision taken at the beginning that has to be undone later. These are the issues we correct most often when a client comes to us mid-project.
| What Goes Wrong | Why It Happens | How We Prevent It |
|---|---|---|
| The wrong facility category is chosen | DHA licenses under set categories, and each one carries its own design, staffing and inspection requirements. | We confirm your category against DHA's own list before anything is filed. |
| Full detailed design is submitted too early | The simple route commits you to complete engineering before DHA has seen anything. | We assess whether the enhanced route, with staged submission, lowers your risk. |
| The engineering layout is not prepared to DHA standards | DHA requires the layout from an engineering or design company and reviews it against its Health Facility Guidelines. | Our drawings are prepared against those guidelines from the start. |
| The medical director is not appointed in time | DHA requires the appointment before the licence can be activated. | We run that application in parallel with the facility file. |
| The chosen EMR is not NABIDH-compliant | DHA lists a NABIDH-compliant Electronic Medical Record as a prerequisite. | We advise on compliant systems before you buy one. |
| The facility is built, then fails inspection | The activate application triggers an inspection of what was actually built. | We run a pre-inspection walkthrough and attend the inspection with you. |
Activation is not the end of your obligations. These are the items that come up at inspection and at renewal, and they are the reason clients stay with us past their opening date.
| Item | What It Involves | How OnTime Healthcare Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping the Medical Director Role Filled | DHA does not allow the role to stay vacant beyond two weeks. | We manage the replacement or designation application. |
| Health Information Sharing | Your Electronic Medical Record must meet NABIDH standards, and DHA governs how patient information is shared. | We advise on compliant systems and the transition. |
| Insurance Empanelment | Getting onto insurer networks so your patients can use their cover. | Dedicated insurance empanelment and revenue cycle management service. |
| Licence Renewal | Facility and practitioner licences must be kept current. | We track and manage renewals for you. |
| Adding Services or Practitioners | Any change of scope goes back through DHA. | We file the amendments as you grow. |
Testimonials - Clinic Setup in Dubai
Ontime Healthcare was an amazing asset when setting up my new clinic. It was an all-in one Healthcare solutions team where every requirement that we needed for the clinic, big or small, was handled. They were simply great! The interior design we worked on was bespoke and exactly as we wanted it, the IT team, government relations etc… were all coordinated by the team leader and Business Consultant Mr. Shahzar Khan who was fantastic and spearheaded the project. There were challenges we came across along the way, but with the help of Ontime healthcare solutions, we navigated each hurdle until completion.
Ontime Healthcare Setup Services did an amazing job in getting our DHA Facility License. Their services included Planning, Layout Preparation and Speedy Approvals. Special thanks to Ms. Safa and Mr. Shahzar for their knowledge, expertise, dedication and outstanding support. I would definitely use the services of Ontime Healthcare for all our future projects & do recommend them to all.
I hired ontime to do our clinic licensing process and interior fit out works. I am very much satisfied with their services as the process for our licensing was pretty smooth and they are definitely aware of the rules and regulations of dha, which comes from their experience of setting up more than 250 healthcare facilities . Construction was a bit late by 7-8days which they compensated with quality of finishes/ materials they provided to my clinic. Mr Shahzar and the whole team is very supportive and they very well know how to take care of their clients. Go for ontime healthcare when it comes to clinic licensing
We have made the smart choice by partnering with On time health-care to plan and execute our lab licensing with DHA. This week we got our final inspection approved thanks to the valuable advice and guidance of the On time team. Special thanks to Mr. Shahzar and Ms. Safa for their outstanding support and dedication to the project.
I used OnTimes consultancy services for opening a new medical facility and was highly satisfied with their level of expertise. They have also been helpful with guiding me with several other items after completion of the initial project. Kudos to Shahzer for the positive experience. Highly recommend.
We handle the DHA and DET filings, medical clinic interior design Dubai clients need to pass inspection, medical clinic fit outs, staff recruitment, and the compliance work that keeps your license active after opening, under one team instead of several vendors you have to coordinate yourself. Whether you’re at the concept stage or already juggling clinic license documents for a medical clinic in Dubai, get in touch for a consultation on your specific clinic type, location, and timeline
A mainland clinic needs a DET trade license and a DHA facility license issued through Sheryan. A clinic in Dubai Healthcare City needs a DHCC commercial license and DHCR regulatory approval instead of DHA. The facility license stays inactive until the premises pass final inspection.
The main difference is the regulator. Mainland clinics are licensed by DHA; DHCC clinics are licensed by DHCR, and a DHA license is not valid inside DHCC. Staff licensing, costs and premises options differ too, so we help you decide before anything is filed.
For most healthcare activities, yes. Full foreign ownership has been available on the mainland since 2021, and DHCC also allows it. We confirm this for your specific activity during trade name registration.
No. Investors without a medical background can own a clinic, but DHA requires a full-time medical director with a valid DHA license or registration to take responsibility for clinical operations.
Yes. A DHA Medical Director is a licensed physician who holds full-time clinical responsibility for the facility, including compliance with DHA regulations and oversight of patient care standards. Every clinic in Dubai must appoint one before its facility license can be activated, regardless of whether the owner has a medical background.
How long clinic setup in Dubai takes depends on the facility type, how quickly the layout is finalised, the fit-out process, and how fast your staff are licensed. DHA’s licensing steps themselves are relatively short: the New Facility License averages 5 working days, while activation takes 1 working day before the inspection visit. The inactive facility licence is valid for one year, so all remaining setup and licensing steps need to be completed within that period.
Passport, visa and Emirates ID copies of owners, the trade name certificate and initial approval, the affection plan, a floor plan from a DHA-registered engineering firm, proposal and undertaking letters, Ejari, the landlord NOC, and the medical director’s DHA details.
It depends on specialty, size and location. Fit-out typically runs AED 150–300 per sq ft, plus rent, licensing fees and equipment. We prepare a project-specific budget after seeing your location.
Inspectors check room layout and dimensions, ventilation, hand-wash stations, signage, clinical waste handling, equipment and NABIDH (electronic health record) connectivity against DHA Health Facility Guidelines. Missing NABIDH integration is a common reason clinics fail inspection.
Yes, and it should. Every clinician needs an individual DHA license, and a facility cannot fully activate without licensed staff. We run staff licensing and recruitment in parallel so staffing doesn’t delay opening.
OnTime Healthcare is Dubai’s leading healthcare consultancy, trusted since 2003 for clinic setup in Dubai, DHA approved licensing, and turnkey medical facility development. From new clinic setup to staffing and specialised training, we help healthcare facilities launch and grow across the UAE
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