If you are opening a clinic in Dubai and the date of your DHA inspection depends on a record system you have not chosen yet, this is for you. It is not for a clinic licensed by another regulator, or one already open and thinking about a switch.
Why does the DHA licence start inactive?
Because DHA licenses a new facility in two steps, and only the second lets you open.
The Dubai Health Authority's Manual for Licensing Health Facility (version 1.2, issued and effective 30 September 2026) says the new facility licence service ends with an inactive licence, valid for one year. During that period the facility may not provide health services, receive or treat any patient, or promote or advertise any health services.
The clock is real. If the licensing requirements are not completed within the year, the manual says the process is cancelled and the facility applies again. The inactive licence can be renewed, subject to DHA's approval. Your doctors can apply for their professional licences under the inactive facility, and those switch on by themselves when the facility licence is activated.
What does activation ask for?
Five things in section 7.2 of the manual: a valid trade licence, a medical director, registration with the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) if you install radiology equipment, evidence of a record system that meets NABIDH's standards, and a passed DHA inspection.
The record-system line, section 7.2.4, reads in full: "Provide evidence of the installation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system that complies with the NABIDH Minimum Data Set, connectivity requirements, and other NABIDH standards." NABIDH is Dubai's health information exchange, the platform that shares patient records between facilities.
Then the inspection pack, section 7.2.6. Have these ready: the approved engineering layout, enough licensed professionals, the medical director, a list of medical equipment, the civil defence certificate, approved policies and procedures, the third-party insurance contract, the waste management contract and the trade licence. The tenth line is "Copy of approval email for tested connectivity with NABIDH."
Which item can you not hurry?
The email. Every other item in the pack is something you sign, hire, buy or file. The approval email comes at the end of a connection test between your record system and NABIDH, so its date depends on your vendor and on DHA as well as on you.
The manual also says what a failed inspection costs in time: a facility that needs amendments applies for the amend facility licence service and requests a paid re-inspection. A record system still in testing on inspection day turns one booking into two.
This is not a rule only for new clinics. DHA circular DHA/OUT/2022/002367 made NABIDH onboarding a prerequisite for applying for a new or renewed outpatient clinic licence in Sheryan, effective 30 June 2023. The same circular says a clinic may choose any record system in the market that meets DHA's NABIDH requirements. You choose; NABIDH keeps the list of connected systems. A vendor guide reviewed on 29 October 2026 (Zavis) counted 114 connected record systems on that list on 1 October 2026.
When do we say: pick the record system first?
At Mindcat, our rule for a new clinic under a DHA licence is short. Choose the record system in the first weeks after the inactive licence arrives, while the fit-out starts. Not after the fit-out ends.
Three reasons, all from the documents above:
- The year runs from the inactive licence, and the connection test is the item whose end date you do not set.
- The inspection asks for the email, not for a contract. A signed vendor with no tested connection is still a missing item.
- The system you open on is the one you would later have to leave. DHA's transition guideline asks a clinic to tell the NABIDH team at least a month before a switch, as we set out in our post on changing clinic records. Picking once costs less than picking twice.
Where the clinic is licensed changes the question. A clinic in Dubai Healthcare City is licensed by that free zone's own regulator, so check its rules first. Abu Dhabi clinics connect to Malaffi and northern-emirates clinics to Riayati; we cover those in the Malaffi post and the Riayati post.
What should a record-system vendor show you before you sign?
Four things, in writing:
- The list. Their name on NABIDH's list of connected record systems, and the facility type it covers.
- The test. Who books the connection test with DHA, who sits in it, and how long their last clinic took from contract to approval email.
- The email. That the approval email is part of what you are buying, not a later project on a separate quote.
- Where the data sits. Federal Law No. 2 of 2019, Article 13, says health data about care given in the UAE may not be stored, processed or transferred outside the country, except where the health authority decides otherwise. Ask for the hosting country in the contract.
Patient booking pages are a different job. If your front desk wants patients to book online, that is Mindcat Bookings, and it does not change what DHA asks of the record system.
Where does Mindcat Clinic fit, and what does it cost?
Not as the first system for a Dubai clinic that needs NABIDH before it opens. Our Clinic page says it plainly: a NABIDH connection is "Not today. A separate project, and the regulator decides whether it is accepted. If your licence needs one of these before you switch, we are not the right choice yet." For that clinic, pick a connected system now.
The page's prices, AED or SAR, per practitioner a month: 249 for the first 5, 179 for 6 to 15, 119 for 16 to 40, 89 from 41. Reception, the clinic manager, billing and owner logins are free. The shared plan has a minimum of AED/SAR 890 a month, which covers up to 3 practitioners. The quick start, up to 5 practitioners, is a fixed AED/SAR 2,500 package that we set up for you. SMS or email reminder fees and the e-invoicing provider are billed at cost, and no NABIDH, Malaffi, Riayati or NPHIES connection is in any plan. Prices exclude VAT. More on clinics in the region is on our clinics page.
If you have not chosen a medical director or signed the unit yet, start there; the record system comes next. Our method is called One record, every branch. Tell us how many practitioners and branches you run and what you use for records today. We reply with the setup plan and the monthly price per practitioner, or tell you to pick a connected system first.
