Opening a clinic in Doha

How to open a clinic in Doha

Q: Is JCI accreditation required to open a clinic in Doha?

The licence comes from MOPH's Health Facilities Department.[[hfd]] JCI is international accreditation, separate from the licence, with a programme for ambulatory centres such as dental, diagnostic imaging and fertility clinics.[[jci]]

In Doha, the Ministry of Public Health licenses private health facilities in three stages, registration, an initial assessment and a final inspection, and its Department of Healthcare Professions licenses every practitioner. From the first appointment, wai runs booking, signed notes, consent, Arabic and English messaging and payments on one record, with every action kept as evidence.

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Updated 16 October 2026. Every rule is checked against the official source and cited below.

Two people talk from deep armchairs in a tall stone-clad lounge, Doha towers framed by a high window behind them

Regulator

Ministry of Public Health, Health Facilities Department

Professionals

MOPH Department of Healthcare Professions

Records

Law No. 13 of 2016, a permit for health data

Licensing

Three stages, 45 working days in all

Six steps to an open clinic in Doha

Who licenses a private clinic in Doha, and in what order?Step 01
What do the premises of a Doha clinic need?Step 02
What insurance matters when a Doha clinic opens?Step 03
What checks does a Doha clinic run before it hires clinicians?Step 04
What has to be in place before the first Doha patient?Step 05
What matters in a Doha clinic's first 90 days?Step 06

How to open a clinic in Doha, step by step

From the licence to the first 90 days, in the order a founder meets each step.

01Licensing and the regulator

Who licenses a private clinic in Doha, and in what order?

The Ministry of Public Health's Health Facilities Department, in three stages that MOPH sets at 5, 20 and 20 working days.¹

Registration, 5 working days. The service is set for each location and aligned with the Qatar urban plan.¹
Initial assessment, 20 working days. MOPH reviews the project's feasibility and the design, layout and flow of work.¹
Final assessment, 20 working days. An inspection checks the facility's readiness to open.¹
License every practitioner through the Department of Healthcare Professions, which issues and revokes licences to practise.²
Treat JCI as a separate decision. It is international accreditation, with a programme for ambulatory centres such as dental, imaging and fertility clinics, and the licence still comes from MOPH.³¹

02Premises and fit-out

What do the premises of a Doha clinic need?

A location whose service fits the Qatar urban plan, a design, layout and workflow that pass the initial assessment, and a facility ready for the final inspection.¹

Confirm the service for the chosen location at registration, before you commit to a fit-out.¹
Submit the design, layout and flow of work for the initial assessment.¹
Finish the fit-out before the final assessment, which is an inspection of the facility's readiness.¹

03Indemnity and insurance

What insurance matters when a Doha clinic opens?

The MOPH pages read for this guide set no malpractice cover for practitioners, so agree each clinician's cover before the first patient. Patient cover is defined, since visitors who need a visa in advance must buy MOPH-approved health insurance before it is granted.⁴

Expect visitors on a visa on arrival to need a policy once they stay beyond 30 days.⁴
Know what the visitor policy pays for, emergency and accident care up to QAR 150,000 in Qatar, with no copayment or deductible.⁴
Remember that the Department of Healthcare Professions receives complaints about practitioners and acts on them.²

Joint Commission International, accreditation

04Hiring and credentialing

What checks does a Doha clinic run before it hires clinicians?

Each physician goes through DHP evaluation and then licensing, with a primary source verification report, a certificate of good standing and, where it applies, Qatar's qualifying exam.⁵

Start the evaluation early, because a preliminary evaluation is valid for only 6 months.⁵
Collect the primary source verification report and, where required, the qualifying exam certificate.⁵⁶
Have the certificate of good standing ready for the licensing phase.⁵
Confirm each practitioner on MOPH's search for registered health practitioners.²

Clinic AI staff training

05Patient-facing setup

What has to be in place before the first Doha patient?

Health data is personal data of a special nature under Article 16 of Law No. 13 of 2016, and it may only be processed after permission from the competent department.⁷

Obtain the permission for processing health data before patient records go live.⁷
Treat ethnic origin, health, physical or psychological condition and religious creeds as special data under the same article.⁷
Check each visitor's health insurance policy, which MOPH advises keeping and showing to healthcare providers on demand.⁴

06The first 90 days

What matters in a Doha clinic's first 90 days?

MOPH carries out field inspections of public and private facilities and monitors licensing decisions, including penalties for violations, so keep the facility ready on an ordinary day.¹

Start every clinician's CPD e-portfolio, because DHP's system will not accept a renewal until CPD requirements are met.⁵
Diary each licence renewal, which DHP reviews within 7 working days of a complete application.⁵
Answer complaints quickly, since MOPH's Health Facilities Department receives complaints about licensing and registration.¹
Decide in the first quarter whether international patients and insurers justify JCI accreditation.³

A receptionist on the phone smiles behind a long walnut desk in a stone lobby, a lake and hills through tall windows

How wai runs a Doha clinic from day one

From the day MOPH licenses the facility, a Doha clinic runs its diary, notes, payments and patient conversations on one record, with consent and every read of a record kept as the work happens.

01
Appointments

Patients request appointments in Arabic or English from your own website at any hour, with a reminder before every visit and cancelled slots offered to the waitlist.
Online booking from your own website, every clinician's diary read from their calendar, reminders, rebooking after a missed visit and waitlist offers when a slot opens.

For patients
Online booking at any hour, with a reminder before the visit.
For the business
Fewer missed appointments, and cancelled slots offered to the waitlist.
On the record
Every booking, reminder and change, with a time and a name.
02
Billing

Card payments go to your clinic's own account, with the price and cancellation policy shown before the patient commits and an export for your accountant.
Card payments into your own Stripe account, the cancellation policy shown at booking, invoices, statements and reconciliation, with an export for your accountant.

For patients
A clear price and policy before they commit, and an invoice in their app.
For the business
Payments reconciled against visits, with an export for your accountant.
On the record
What was charged, when, against which visit, and the policy the patient saw.
03
Scribe

The note, letters and referrals are drafted from the consultation, including one that moves between Arabic and English, for the physician to read, edit and sign.
The note, letters and referrals written from the consultation, cited to published clinical guidelines, with the transcript beside the note, for the clinician to read, edit and sign.

For patients
The clinician's attention stays on them during the consultation.
For the business
Less time spent writing notes after clinic.
On the record
A contemporaneous note, signed, with the time, the signature and the source it cites.
04
Follow-up

WhatsApp, email and calls land in one thread per patient, with replies drafted in Arabic or English for your team to approve before anything is sent.
WhatsApp, email and calls in one thread per patient, replies drafted in the patient's own language for your team to approve, a response clock on every new enquiry, and recalls a clinician approves.

For patients
A reply in the language they wrote in, approved by your team.
For the business
More enquiries answered within the hour, when they are most likely to book.
On the record
The whole conversation on one record, with response times.
05
Evidence and audit trail

Consent is recorded at booking and discussed in the signed note, and every read of a record is logged against a named account.
Recording consent taken at booking, referrals written from the visit, patient flags for controlled drugs and safeguarding notes, and every read of a record logged against a named account.

For patients
Flags and checks in the record at the point of care.
For the business
Incident reviews that start from the audit trail, with times and names.
On the record
Who saw what, who changed what, and when, to the minute.
06
Reporting

Weekly reports on response times, the front desk and takings, and the patient's own record exportable when they ask for it.
Takings, front desk and website reports, response targets, and the patient's own record exportable on request.

For patients
A copy of their record when they ask for it.
For the business
Weekly reports for leaders on response times, the front desk and takings.
On the record
Reports for any period, produced on the day they are asked for.

wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with you before go-live. Prices for clinics, groups and hospitals are on the wai pricing page.

What a well-run clinic gains

Patients answered within the hour, clinicians home on time and diaries that stay full, in published research.

7x
An enquiry answered within the hour is nearly seven times as likely to become a real conversation.⁸
30%
Clinicians using an ambient scribe did 30% less work after hours.⁹
23%
Patients sent a notification before their visit were 23% more likely to attend.¹⁰

Questions

How long does a clinic licence take in Qatar?

MOPH sets three stages, registration in 5 working days, an initial assessment in 20 and a final assessment in 20, which is 45 working days in all.¹ Time spent fixing findings is on top.

Who licenses doctors in Qatar?

The Ministry of Public Health's Department of Healthcare Professions, which issues and revokes licences to practise and sets the standards for continuing medical education.²

Does a Doha clinic need a permit to process health data?

Yes. Article 16 of Law No. 13 of 2016 makes health data personal data of a special nature, which may only be processed after permission from the competent department.⁷

Do visitors to Qatar need health insurance?

Visitors who need a visa in advance must buy MOPH-approved insurance before it is granted, and visitors on a visa on arrival need a policy to stay beyond 30 days.⁴

Is JCI accreditation required to open a clinic in Doha?

The licence comes from MOPH's Health Facilities Department.¹ JCI is international accreditation, separate from the licence, with a programme for ambulatory centres such as dental, diagnostic imaging and fertility clinics.³

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Request a demo for your Doha clinic.

We show wai running a Doha clinic on your own diary, notes and inbox, in a 15 minute video call with our team. wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with you before go-live.