Team, emergency equipment, contracts, policies and notices. This is DHA's outpatient standard set out as a working list for the months before your inspection.
| Clinic type | Minimum professionals | Director of the facility | Minimum emergency equipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polyclinic | Full-time DHA licensed specialist, consultant, dentist, physician or GP. Full-time registered nurse and assistant nurse. Full-time general dentist if the service is provided. Pathologist or radiologist, part or full time, if lab or diagnostic services are available. | Medical director | AED, crash cart (recommended), oral airways, oxygen cylinder, nebuliser, suction machine with tubes, oxygen masks |
| Specialty clinic | Full-time specialist or consultant physicians. Full-time registered nurse and assistant nurse. | Doctors of the same specialty | AED, crash cart (recommended), oral airways |
| General clinic | Full-time GP. Full-time registered nurse and assistant nurse. | General practitioners | AED, oral airways, oxygen cylinder, nebuliser, suction machine with tubes, oxygen masks |
| Express clinic | Full-time GP. Full-time registered nurse. | General practitioners | AED, oral airways, oxygen cylinder, nebuliser, suction machine with tubes, oxygen masks |
| General dental clinic | Full-time general dentist. Full-time registered nurse. | General dentists | AED, oral airways, oxygen cylinder, nebuliser, suction machine with tubes, oxygen masks |
Every healthcare professional must hold an active DHA licence and work within their scope of practice, and the facility must appoint a medical director. They can apply for licences once the facility holds its inactive licence. Those licences activate with the facility.
For examinations and procedures involving female patients, a female healthcare professional must be present alongside the doctor. This may be a DHA registered female nurse, so plan your rota around it.
If licensed staff become unavailable, DHA's manual says this will result in temporary closure of the facility, so plan cover as well as the opening team. HealthcareSetup UAE recruits and credentials clinical teams, and its guide to the medical director role covers that appointment.
Equipment has to match the services you declared, and be installed and operated to the manufacturer's specifications. You need an equipment management plan with records of preventive maintenance, and documented evidence of your equipment maintenance service.
Medical devices generally need UAE registration before they can be imported and sold. Al Tamimi's guidance notes that even a licensed importer cannot bring in a device unless that specific product is registered. Ask each supplier to show the registration for the exact model before you buy. Federal device registration now sits with the Emirates Drug Establishment (EDE).
If a device you want is not registered yet, Pharmareg UAE handles medical device registration and authorised representative services.
Radiology equipment needs initial registration with FANR and a radiation safety assessment request once installed, followed by inspection and FANR's final approval. Vaccination services need temperature-monitored storage with an alarm, an uninterrupted power supply, a vaccine carrier with a digital thermometer, and a fully stocked crash cart.
DHA's standard asks for documented evidence of these services:
NABIDH is Dubai's health information exchange. You need electronic health records and a plan to integrate them with it, so choose your records system early. Pharmareg UAE lists NABIDH among the work it does on DHA licensing and clinic setup.
Utilities need records too. The standard says drinking water quality should be tested quarterly, and non-potable water every 6 months.
The standard says the facility should develop policies and procedures covering at least these areas. They are the first section of DHA's final inspection checklist.
Write them for the clinic you are actually opening. A policy that describes services you do not offer, or steps your team does not follow, is a weak thing to put in front of an inspector.
The room and finish rules are explained in our guide to clinic layout and fit-out.
DHA publishes its final inspection checklist for outpatient facilities. Print the current version and walk the finished clinic line by line, with a yes, a no and a remark for each item, the same way the form is laid out. Then fix each no before you request the inspection.
If DHA requires amendments, you apply to amend the licence and request a paid re-inspection. DHA can also deny activation where a facility cannot show compliance, and the facility can then request a re-inspection or approval with conditions.
Pharmareg UAE handles inspection readiness, and HealthcareSetup UAE carries the clinic through to handover and opening.
An automated external defibrillator is on DHA's minimum emergency equipment list for every outpatient category in Appendix 1 of its standard, including first-aid hotel and company clinics.
DHA's standard recommends one for polyclinics and specialty clinics, and requires a fully stocked crash cart where vaccinations are provided. Check what your scope requires, as sedation services carry their own equipment list.
DHA's standard lists a full-time GP, a full-time registered nurse and an assistant nurse as the minimum for a general clinic. The medical director must also ensure enough trained staff are available for the service.
DHA's standard lists a NABIDH contract among the documented evidence a facility must provide, and requires a plan to integrate your electronic medical system with NABIDH.
Pharmareg UAE handles facility licensing, NABIDH and inspection readiness, and HealthcareSetup UAE runs the whole clinic build through to handover. Both are brands of the same company and publish this guide.
Company formation, DHA licensing, premises and layout approval, the clinical team and systems, run as one project and handed over ready for the first patient.
healthcaresetup.ae ↗Regulatory affairs in the UAE: DHA facility and professional licensing, NABIDH, inspection readiness, and pharmaceutical and medical device registration.
pharmareguae.com ↗