Opening a clinic in Riyadh

How to open a clinic in Riyadh

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

The licence comes from the Ministry of Health.[[mohLic]] JCI is international accreditation, separate from the licence, with a programme for ambulatory centres such as dental, diagnostic imaging and fertility clinics.[[jci]]

In Riyadh, the Ministry of Health licenses private health facilities through its Seha platform, and every practitioner needs a Ministry licence and registration with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties before treating a patient. 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.

Request a demo Email us

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

A man in a linen suit walks between tall limestone walls in low golden light, low lounge seating beside him

Regulator

Saudi Ministry of Health, through the Seha platform

Professionals

Saudi Commission for Health Specialties

Insurance

Malpractice cover compulsory for physicians and dentists

Records

Personal Data Protection Law, issued 16 September 2021

Six steps to an open clinic in Riyadh

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

How to open a clinic in Riyadh, 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 Riyadh, and in what order?

The Ministry of Health. Investors issue, renew, cancel and transfer facility licences on the Seha platform, and a facility must be registered there with a valid licence to use the service.¹

Register on Seha, the platform MOH runs for facility and practitioner licences.¹
Follow MOH's sequence for a medical clinic. A commercial registration and municipal approval of the location come before the application, then initial approval on Seha, then the final licence.²
Expect a site inspection before the licence is issued, with the facility's equipment and medical staff in place.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 MOH.³¹

02Premises and fit-out

What do the premises of a Riyadh clinic need?

Municipal approval that the location suits a clinic, a lease or title deed for the initial approval, and premises fully equipped before the inspection.²

Secure the municipal approval of the location before you apply, and the municipal permit before the final licence.²
Attach the lease or title deed and the owner's identification to the initial approval on Seha.²
Equip the clinic completely, since MOH's guide describes a medical clinic as a completely equipped facility supervised by a licensed physician.²

03Indemnity and insurance

What malpractice insurance does a Riyadh clinic need?

Cooperative insurance against medical malpractice is compulsory for every physician and dentist in public and private health institutions, under Article 41 of the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions.⁴

Each physician or dentist takes a policy with an insurer licensed in the Kingdom and pays its premiums.⁴
The insurer issues a certificate, which the practitioner submits when licensed to work and at every licence renewal.⁴
The employer must make each physician and dentist subscribe, and the facility pays final judgments against its staff where cover is missing or insufficient, with recourse against those liable.⁴

Joint Commission International, accreditation

04Hiring and credentialing

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

Practising any health profession without a Ministry licence is forbidden, and the conditions include a recognised qualification, the mandatory internship and registration with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.⁴

Check every practitioner's registration with SCFHS's own service for verifying a registration's validity.⁵
Issue, renew and cancel your practitioners' licences from the facility's Seha account.¹
Keep a copy of each clinician's SCFHS classification, which MOH asks for with the final clinic licence.²
Collect each physician's and dentist's malpractice insurance certificate before their first patient.⁴

Clinic AI staff training

05Patient-facing setup

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

Consent before any medical intervention, confidentiality for everything learned in practice, and advertising that stays within the law.⁴

Obtain the consent of the adult patient, man or woman, or of their representative, before any medical intervention.⁴
Keep what is learned in practice confidential, disclosing it only in the cases Article 21 lists.⁴
Advertise within Article 10, which forbids practitioners from promoting themselves except as the regulations allow, or claiming titles they do not hold.⁴
Handle patient data under the Personal Data Protection Law, issued on 16 September 2021, published on SDAIA's data protection platform.⁶

06The first 90 days

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

Keep every licence current on Seha, every clinician registered with SCFHS and insured, and every consent and record ready for the Ministry.¹⁴

Diary each practitioner's licence renewal on Seha, with the malpractice certificate that has to go with it.¹⁴
Re-check each new hire's SCFHS registration on the day they start.⁵
Audit a sample of records each month for the patient's consent before each intervention.⁴
Decide in the first quarter whether international patients and insurers justify JCI accreditation.³

A young woman and an older woman with a hearing aid smile at each other from cream armchairs by tall windows

How wai runs a Riyadh clinic from day one

From the day the Seha licence is active, a Riyadh clinic runs its diary, notes, payments and patient conversations on one record, with the consent and access trail 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
Staff access

Every person has a named account and a role enforced in the database, so each record is seen only by the staff whose work needs it.
Named accounts for every person, and role-based access enforced in the database, so every action sits under a name.

For patients
Their record seen only by staff whose role allows it.
For the business
Access and actions tied to named people, in the same system as the record.
On the record
Who holds which role, and every action taken under it.

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.⁷
30%
Clinicians using an ambient scribe did 30% less work after hours.⁸
23%
Patients sent a notification before their visit were 23% more likely to attend.⁹

Questions

Who licenses a private clinic in Riyadh?

The Saudi Ministry of Health, through the Seha platform, where facility licences are issued, renewed, cancelled and transferred.¹ Practitioners also need a Ministry licence and registration with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.⁴

Is malpractice insurance compulsory for doctors in Saudi Arabia?

Yes, for physicians and dentists in public and private health institutions, under Article 41 of the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions.⁴ The insurer's certificate is submitted at licensing and at every renewal.⁴

Can a doctor start work while their SCFHS registration is pending?

No. The Law forbids practising any health profession without a Ministry licence, and registration with the Commission is one of its conditions.⁴

What does a Riyadh clinic need before it applies on Seha?

MOH's investor guide lists a commercial registration and municipal approval of the location before the application.² The initial approval then needs the owner's identification and the lease or title deed.²

Is JCI accreditation required to open a clinic in Riyadh?

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

Riyadh regulators and guides

All regulators

Riyadh in depth

All insights

Opening a specialty clinic in Riyadh

Every specialty

Opening a clinic elsewhere

Every city

Request a demo for your Riyadh clinic.

We show wai running a Riyadh 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.