Licensable activity
Healthcare & medical
Clinics, day surgeries, diagnostic centres, pharmacies, telehealth and allied health services. Healthcare in the UAE runs two licensing tracks at once: the facility and every clinician inside it.
Classification
How it is coded.
UAE activity lists derive from ISIC Revision 4, the United Nations industrial classification. Each emirate's economic department and each free zone then extends that base with its own numbering, so the same activity carries a different code in Dubai than it does in Sharjah or inside DMCC.
- ISIC Rev. 4
- Section Q — Human health and social work activities (division 86)
- Licence category
- Professional, plus facility and practitioner licensing
- Regulator
- DHA (Dubai) · DoH (Abu Dhabi) · MoHAP (northern emirates) · DHCR (Dubai Healthcare City)
Approvals beyond the licence
- Facility licence
- Health authority approval of the premises, layout, equipment and scope of service — usually staged from concept to inspection.
- Practitioner licences
- Every doctor, nurse and technician licensed individually, with primary source verification of qualifications.
- Pharmacy
- Separate regime again, with its own pharmacist-in-charge requirements.
In practice
Dubai Healthcare City operates its own regulator, DHCR, which some internationally trained practitioners find a more familiar process than the emirate authority.
Coverage
Where it can be licensed.
Of the 40 licensing authorities across the UAE, 4 issue licences covering this activity, spread across 2 of the seven emirates.