Does a new Dubai clinic have to connect to NABIDH?

Yes. NABIDH is the Dubai Health Authority health information exchange. A clinic must connect its electronic medical record system to NABIDH, using a NABIDH-certified vendor and meeting its minimum data set, to obtain and renew its DHA facility licence.

What is involved in DHA facility inspection?

After preliminary approval and fit-out to DHA design and infection-control standards, the facility undergoes a DHA inspection covering layout, equipment, safety, staffing, and documentation. The operational licence is issued once the facility passes.

Dubai Health Authority

DHA licensing and clinic set-up in Dubai.

From an empty unit to a licensed, operational facility. We run the full DHA pathway: facility licensing, medical staff licensing, NABIDH integration, and inspection readiness, so your clinic opens compliant and on schedule.

Start your clinic set-up See the process

Opening a clinic in Dubai is a licensing project, not just a fit-out.

Every healthcare facility in Dubai is licensed by the Dubai Health Authority, and the licence depends on far more than the premises. Your scope of services, every practitioner, your medical records system, and your physical layout all have to clear DHA standards before you can legally see a single patient.

We manage the whole sequence as one accountable engagement, so the licensing, the staffing, and the build-out move together instead of blocking each other.

What we handle

Everything between the lease and the licence.

A single team across regulatory, clinical, and digital-health requirements.

Facility licensing

Initial approval, scope of services, and the operational licence through the DHA Sheryan platform.

Medical staff licensing

Primary source verification and individual DHA licences for doctors, nurses, and allied professionals.

NABIDH integration

Connecting your EMR to Dubai's health information exchange through a certified vendor. A licence requirement, not an optional extra.

Scope & protocols

Defining the clinical scope, policies, and protocols DHA expects to see documented before approval.

Inspection readiness

Preparing the facility, equipment, and documentation so the DHA inspection passes the first time.

Fit-out guidance

Aligning your layout, infection control, and signage with DHA design and safety standards.

The path to an operational licence.

Five stages, run in parallel where they can be, sequential where DHA requires it.

Initiation

Company licence, location approval, and the intended scope of services confirmed with DHA.

Preliminary approval

Concept, layout, and scope submitted and approved before any build-out begins.

Fit-out & staffing

Build to DHA standards while practitioner licences clear primary source verification.

NABIDH & systems

EMR selected, connected to NABIDH, and conformance confirmed.

Inspection & licence

Final DHA inspection passed and the operational licence issued. Doors open.

DHA portal (Sheryan) for the whole facility lifecycle

Licensing stages, managed as one engagement

100%

NABIDH-connected before the licence is issued

1st

Inspection pass is the goal on every project

Questions

DHA licensing, answered.

Which authority licenses clinics in Dubai?

Healthcare facilities and professionals in Dubai are licensed by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), primarily through its Sheryan platform. Facilities elsewhere in the UAE may fall under other authorities, such as the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi or MOHAP in the Northern Emirates.

Does a new clinic have to connect to NABIDH?

Yes. NABIDH is the DHA health information exchange. A clinic must connect its electronic medical record system to NABIDH through a certified vendor, meeting the minimum data set, to obtain and renew its facility licence.

What licences does a clinic actually need?

A facility licence for the premises and an approved scope of services, plus an individual professional licence for every doctor, nurse, and allied health professional, each cleared through primary source verification before they can practise.

What happens at the DHA inspection?

After preliminary approval and fit-out to DHA design and infection-control standards, the facility is inspected for layout, equipment, safety, staffing, and documentation. The operational licence is issued once the facility passes.

Open compliant

Planning a clinic in Dubai?

Tell us your location and intended scope of services. We will map the DHA licensing pathway, the staffing requirements, and the systems you need, and run it end to end.

Talk to our DHA team