Dubai · Free zone
DHCC
Dubai Healthcare City
The honest read
What it is actually good at.
The free zone with its own clinical regulator. Clinics, day surgeries and medical practices licensed here are supervised by DHCR rather than the Dubai Health Authority, which some international practitioners find a more familiar process.
Who is actually based here
Clinics, day surgeries, diagnostic centres, dental and aesthetic practices, medical education and healthcare support businesses.
What it costs
Specialist healthcare pricing, with clinical premises costing considerably more than commercial space of the same area.
How banks receive it
Straightforward, though healthcare businesses face standard scrutiny on source of funds like any other.
Commonly licensed here
- Emirate
- Dubai
- Type
- Free zone
- Location
- Oud Metha
- Established
- 2002
- Licence issuance
- 6–10 weeks
- Residence visas
- By leased area
- Ownership
- 100% foreign
- Premises
- Clinical and commercial units
Timelines, quotas and package contents are indicative and change without notice. We confirm every one against the current schedule before you commit to anything.
Premises
Where the office actually goes.
DHCC licenses from Oud Metha, and Bur Dubai is the nearest district where you would realistically take space — near enough to be practical, and priced on its own terms rather than the zone's.
Across the creek from Deira, mixing the old textile souk with a dense commercial and residential quarter. Karama and Al Fahidi sit within it. What DHCC itself offers by way of premises: Clinical and commercial units.
- District
- Bur Dubai, Dubai
- Typical rent
- Value band, comparable to Deira
- Licence type there
- Mainland
Questions
Dubai Healthcare City Regulatory — the free zone's own clinical regulator, separate from the Dubai Health Authority. Some internationally trained practitioners find its process more familiar.
Different regulators for different catchments. DHCC gives you DHCR licensing within the zone; DHA covers the rest of Dubai and a wider patient base.
Months, driven by facility approval and practitioner primary source verification rather than by the company licence.