Medical fit-out for Dubai clinics: regulator requirements, approvals, and costs

A Dubai clinic fit-out involves three sets of approvals: Dubai's health regulator, the authority that issues building permits for the location (Dubai Municipality for most of the mainland, or a free zone authority), and Dubai Civil Defence. Part A of the Health Facility Guidelines (2023) says the regulator's approval process is part of Dubai's general building approval process, which Dubai Municipality manages with the other authorities. Part A also says that one authority's approval does not anticipate another's: if the Municipality or Civil Defence asks for design changes after the regulator has approved the layout, the applicant must resubmit those changes to the regulator.

The first step with the regulator is the new facility license application on the Sheryan portal. The regulator's Manual for Licensing Health Facility (version 1.2, issued 30 September 2026) lists the documents: trade license details or the expected trade name, a facility proposal, location details with the Makani number, the Dubai Municipality plot number certificate and Ejari, and a layout or floor plan designed and approved by a prequalified health facility design consultant, with room counts as per the Health Facility Guidelines. The Sheryan service page gives 5 working days as the average processing time. An approved application receives an inactive facility license valid for one year. During that time the clinic may not treat patients or advertise.

Part A tells applicants to obtain approvals from other relevant authorities, such as Dubai Municipality, before construction starts. Under Dubai Municipality Administrative Resolution No. 85 of 2019, decoration works in a unit larger than 100 sqm need a permit, applied for by a Municipality-approved contractor through the Dubai Building Permit System. Units of 100 sqm or less do not need the permit, but an approved contractor must still do the work and it must meet Civil Defence requirements. In a free zone, check the approval process with the free zone authority. For example, the Dubai Development Authority issues its own fit-out permit to the contractor and asks for the tenant's appointment letter, Ejari and an NOC from the building owner.

When construction is complete, the clinic applies to activate the license. The licensing manual lists what must be ready for the inspection, including the approved engineering layout, the Civil Defence certificate, a list of medical equipment, a waste management contract and the appointed medical director. The inspectors compare the built clinic with the approved drawings. If changes are needed, the clinic amends the application and pays for a re-inspection.

The Health Facility Guidelines of Dubai's health regulator have six parts: A (Administrative Provisions), B (Health Facility Briefing and Design), C (Access, Mobility, OH&S), D (Infection Control), E (Engineering) and F (Feasibility Planning and Costing). For a clinic layout, the main document is Part B chapter 360, Outpatients Unit (2019, version 1.0). The regulator's Standards for Outpatient Facilities (issued 19 November 2024, effective 19 January 2025) require outpatient facilities to meet that chapter.

Part B gives room sizes in its Schedules of Accommodation and states that they are minimum requirements. In an outpatients unit, a combined consult/examination room is 13 sqm, an ENT or ophthalmology consult room is 14 sqm, a treatment room is 14 sqm and a procedure room is 20 sqm. Waiting areas need at least 2 seats per consult room.

Part B requires handwashing facilities in consult/examination rooms and handbasins suitable for scrubbing in each procedure and treatment room. The Standards for Outpatient Facilities require a hand-washing station with a hands-free tap in every examination, treatment and procedure room. Floors in consult and treatment areas must be non-slip and impermeable to water and body fluids, carpet cannot be used in examination and treatment rooms, and walls must be painted with lead-free paint.

Part C sets a minimum clear corridor width of 1,850 mm in an outpatients unit. It recommends a ceiling height of 2,700 mm in patient treatment areas and 2,400 mm as the minimum in occupied areas. The licensing manual requires compliance with the Dubai Universal Design Code, and the outpatient standards require easy access for people of determination. A clinic on two floors must have a treatment or dental room on the ground floor.

The outpatient standards also require a sterilization room that is physically separated from other areas, with restricted access and a one-way workflow from contaminated to clean. Dental, ENT and ophthalmology services need dedicated rooms that are not shared with other specialties. A pre-construction risk assessment is required for any new construction, renovation or demolition.

Each specialty adds requirements to the general outpatient rules. Checking them before the drawings are made avoids a redesign after Dubai's health regulator returns comments.

Part B chapter 100, Dental Surgery Unit (2019), lists each dental surgery room at 14 sqm. For a 2-chair clinic, its schedule also lists a 6 sqm dental clean-up room, a 6 sqm dental sterilising room and a 9 sqm dental plant room for water treatment, suction plant and air compressors; an OPG X-ray room of 6 sqm is optional in larger units. Part B requires clean and dirty workflows to be separated, at minimum by a two-room process with washing and decontamination in a dirty zone and packing and sterilising in a clean zone. The Standards for Outpatient Facilities require at least 2 sqm dedicated to cleaning and sterilizing dental instruments, outside the dental room, divided physically or at least spatially into decontamination, preparation and sterilization, and sterile storage. Floors in dental procedure, clean-up and sterilising rooms should be continuous and impervious, such as vinyl.

X-ray equipment brings in the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR). Part B states that radiation shielding needs FANR approval and certification, and that radiation protection requirements must be part of the final specifications and building plans. The outpatient standards add that a certified physicist or qualified expert may be needed to specify the type, location and amount of shielding. The licensing manual requires initial FANR registration before radiology equipment is installed. After installation, the clinic submits a radiation safety assessment request and must obtain FANR's final approval. Part A states that imaging services need a separate FANR license.

Operating rooms follow Part E section 2: 18–22°C, 20–60% relative humidity, about 20 air changes per hour of HEPA-filtered air (4 of them outside air), a dedicated air handling unit for each theatre, laminar airflow diffusers over the operating table, and positive pressure of 2.5–10 Pa relative to corridors with active pressure monitoring.

Part E (Engineering) of the Health Facility Guidelines sets HVAC, electrical and medical gas design rules for new construction and major renovation of facilities licensed by Dubai's health regulator.

Part E section 2 (HVAC) uses ASHRAE 170 (Ventilation of Health Care Facilities, 2017) as the general HVAC design reference. It says key system components must be configured N+1, and its redundancy table lets smaller hospitals and clinics deviate for chillers if losing one chiller does not affect critical cooling. Its outpatient section notes that clinic HVAC is often not designed to the same redundancy as in-patient facilities and asks the consultant to agree the requirements with the owner early. Critical areas listed in ASHRAE 170, including the sterile supply unit, surgical suite and recovery, should have backup cooling on emergency power. Pressure depends on the room: airborne infection isolation rooms are negative, protective environment isolation rooms are positive, and operating rooms are positive relative to corridors.

Part E section 7 (Medical Gas System Design) requires the design to follow either HTM 02-01 or NFPA 99, not both. Medical vacuum comes from a central vacuum plant. For a small facility, a cylinder system may be enough for oxygen, subject to the design consultant's risk assessment. Anaesthetic gas scavenging (AGSS) is provided only in areas served with nitrous oxide.

Part D (Infection Control, 2019) covers finishes. Treatment areas should not be carpeted, and non-slip vinyl should be laid under all handwash basins. In wet areas the floor finish should turn up the wall as a cove skirting at least 100 mm high. Ceilings in operating rooms, stage 1 recovery, isolation rooms and sterile processing rooms must be monolithic, without open joints, and lay-in ceilings must not be used where disturbed particles could affect infection control.

Dubai Civil Defence requirements apply to every clinic fit-out, whatever its size. Dubai Municipality Administrative Resolution No. 85 of 2019 requires decoration works, including works exempt from a permit, to meet Civil Defence requirements. The Dubai Development Authority requires a Civil Defence completion certificate before it issues a fit-out completion certificate in its areas.

Dubai's health regulator also checks Civil Defence compliance. The licensing manual lists a copy of the Civil Defence certificate among the documents needed for the activation inspection, and Part A of the Health Facility Guidelines says that design changes Civil Defence asks for after the regulator's approval must be resubmitted to the regulator.

Once the clinic operates, the Standards for Outpatient Facilities require a fire safety plan for early detection, confinement, extinguishing, rescue, evacuation and alerting Dubai Civil Defence. Fire safety must be part of staff induction, evacuation maps marked "You are here" must be posted, and staff must know where the fire hose reels, extinguishers, fire blankets, assembly points and alarm call points are.

Sprinklers, detection, alarms, exits, emergency lighting and fire compartmentation are designed to Civil Defence's fire and life safety requirements. Confirm the current requirements and the submission route for your building with Civil Defence before the MEP consultant starts the fire drawings.

No official body publishes a cost per square foot for clinic fit-out in Dubai. Figures quoted online come from contractors and consultants, and they change with the specialty, the condition of the unit (shell and core or previously fitted), the finishes and the MEP scope. Get itemised quotes for your own scope.

The items that make medical fit-out different from office fit-out come from the requirements above: hand-washing stations in every examination, treatment and procedure room; impervious, non-slip floors with cove skirting in wet areas; a separated sterilization area; a dental plant room; FANR-approved shielding for X-ray rooms; medical gas systems designed to HTM 02-01 or NFPA 99; and, for operating rooms, a dedicated air handling unit with HEPA filtration.

Published official fees are a small part of the budget. The Sheryan new facility license service lists initial approval fees of AED 500 for a first aid unit, AED 1,000 for a general clinic and AED 2,000 for a general hospital, plus Knowledge and Innovation fees at checkout. In its areas, the Dubai Development Authority charges AED 0.90 per sq ft for a fit-out permit (minimum AED 200, maximum AED 10,000), plus AED 20 in Knowledge and Innovation Dirham fees. A failed activation inspection adds a paid re-inspection.