Opening a clinic in Singapore

How to open a clinic in Singapore

In Singapore, a clinic is licensed for the Outpatient Medical Service under the Healthcare Services Act, applied for on the HALP portal at least two months ahead, with a Principal Officer, a qualified Clinical Governance Officer and an inspection before the licence is issued. From the first appointment, wai runs booking, signed notes, consent, messaging and payments on one record hosted in Singapore, with every action kept as evidence for the inspector.

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

A doctor opening the door of her new clinic in a white colonial bungalow in Singapore in the early morning, the garden lush around her

Regulator

MOH under the Healthcare Services Act, administered by HSA from 1 November 2026

Professionals

Singapore Medical Council

Licence

Outpatient Medical Service, S$360 for each mode of delivery

Records

Hosted in Singapore, kept 6 years for outpatients

Six steps to an open clinic in Singapore

Who licenses a clinic in Singapore, and in what order?Step 01
What do the premises of a Singapore clinic need?Step 02
What does each Singapore doctor need to keep practising?Step 03
Who must a Singapore clinic appoint before it opens?Step 04
What has to be in place before the first Singapore patient?Step 05
What matters in a Singapore clinic's first 90 days?Step 06

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

MOH licenses each healthcare service under the Healthcare Services Act, and a clinic applies for the Outpatient Medical Service with approval for each mode of delivery.¹ From 1 November 2026 HSA administers licensing, inspections and enforcement, while MOH stays the licensing authority and existing licences stay valid.²

Choose the service and modes. Permanent premises, temporary premises, remote or conveyance, each approved, and no specified service offered without approval.¹
Apply on HALP with Singpass or Corppass, at least two months ahead, then pay the fee and complete the self-assessment checklist.³
Pay S$360 for each stand-alone mode of service delivery, with a bundle fee where several apply.⁴
Prepare for the inspection on the date confirmed, since MOH works towards approval within 30 working days of a complete application.³
Use HSA's channels from 1 November 2026. The portal and enquiry emails move to hsa.gov.sg, and applications in progress carry over.²

02Premises and fit-out

What do the premises of a Singapore clinic need?

For an outpatient medical service on permanent premises, MOH's clearance under the medical use quantum guidelines comes before the licence application.³

Request clearance with MOH's Check GFA form before you sign the lease.³
Have registrations ready for the inspection where they apply, such as MOM's for pressure vessels and NEA's licence for irradiating equipment.³
Request a change at least two months before services start at new permanent premises, which may be inspected.³

03Indemnity and insurance

What does each Singapore doctor need to keep practising?

A valid practising certificate from the Singapore Medical Council, renewed with the CME points it requires.⁵⁶ Confirm each doctor's indemnity cover with their provider before their first patient.

Renew online from 4 months before expiry, since a late fee applies within 1 month of it.⁵
Earn 50 CME points over a two-year certificate, with 10 core points in the doctor's specialty or Family Medicine and 5 from ethics core programmes.⁶
Know that a doctor who does not meet the renewal criteria must stop practising when the certificate expires.⁵

The Clinical Governance Officer

04Hiring and credentialing

Who must a Singapore clinic appoint before it opens?

A Principal Officer, and for the Outpatient Medical Service a Clinical Governance Officer who meets every criterion MOH sets.⁴

Appoint a CGO who is fully registered with the SMC, holds a valid practising certificate and lives in Singapore during the appointment.⁴
Check that the CGO is a registered family physician or specialist, or has 5 years of full-time practice within a 10-year period.⁴
Add MOH's telemedicine e-training for the CGO if the clinic uses the remote mode.⁴
Read every licence condition and code of practice with your Key Office Holders, because licensees must comply with all of them.⁷

05Patient-facing setup

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

Advertising that meets the Healthcare Services (Advertisement) Regulations, and records kept for the period licence conditions set.⁸⁹

Write the website without laudatory statements, which MOH prohibits even when they are accurate.¹⁰
Keep before-and-after photographs out of advertisements, even with a disclaimer.¹⁰
List exact prices, without a prefix or a comparison against usual prices.¹⁰
Keep outpatient records for 6 years from the last consultation or treatment.⁹

06The first 90 days

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

The CGO's oversight running in practice, records signed and retained, and a plan for the Health Information Act, which is enacted and not yet in force.⁷¹¹

Run a mock inspection against the licence, the Key Office Holders, the records and the adverts.⁷
Plan NEHR contribution under the Health Information Act, with GP clinics due by September 2027 and specialist clinics by September 2028.¹¹
Expect inspectors and letters from HSA after 1 November 2026, applying the same licence conditions.²
Diary the renewal, which can be filed 6 months before expiry and carries a late fee within 2 months of it.³

A figure with a coffee cup stands at a wall of glass, rain trees and Singapore towers beyond, low sofas in the foreground

How wai runs a Singapore clinic from day one

From the day the HCSA licence is issued, a Singapore clinic runs its diary, notes, payments and patient conversations on one record, with the evidence an inspector from MOH, or HSA from 1 November, asks for kept as the work happens.

01
Appointments

Patients request appointments 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 exact price and the cancellation policy shown before the patient commits.
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 for the doctor to read, edit and sign, so the record is complete on the day of the visit.
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 English, Mandarin, Malay or Tamil for your team to approve.
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 give the Clinical Governance Officer the whole clinic at a glance.
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 your clinic's records in Singapore, under Singapore'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.¹²
30%
Clinicians using an ambient scribe did 30% less work after hours.¹³
23%
Patients sent a notification before their visit were 23% more likely to attend.¹⁴

Questions

How long does a clinic licence take in Singapore?

MOH asks for applications at least two months ahead and works towards approval within 30 working days of a complete application.³ Delays in the inspection or follow-up can extend that.

How much is the HCSA clinic licence fee?

The Outpatient Medical Service licence is S$360 for each stand-alone mode of service delivery, with a bundle fee where a clinic uses several.⁴

Does my licence change when HSA takes over on 1 November 2026?

No. MOH stays the licensing authority and existing licences stay valid with no reapplication.² HSA administers licensing, inspections and enforcement, and the portal moves to hsa.gov.sg.

Who can be the Clinical Governance Officer of a Singapore clinic?

A doctor fully registered with the SMC, with a valid practising certificate, who lives in Singapore and is a registered family physician or specialist, or has 5 years of full-time practice within 10.⁴

Can a Singapore clinic show before-and-after photos?

Not in advertisements, even with a disclaimer. A doctor may show them to a patient during a consultation, with proper context.¹⁰

Singapore regulators and guides

All regulators

Singapore in depth

All insights

Opening a specialty clinic in Singapore

Every specialty

Opening a clinic elsewhere

Every city

Request a demo for your Singapore clinic.

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