Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA), the governing body of the Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC), today announced revised fees for several of its healthcare, commercial, and research and education offerings with the objective of facilitating ease of doing business.

The initiative is in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to reduce the cost of doing business in Dubai, enhancing economic growth in the emirate, and further cementing the emirate’s position as destination of choice for investment.

The DHCC free zone has revised several fees, benefitting clinical, non-clinical, and education and research partners.

Operating permit fees for issuance and renewal for close to 150 clinical partners – mainly hospitals and clinics, have been reduced to strengthen patient care and healthcare services in DHCC. Operating permit fees for inpatient and outpatient facilities have been reduced up to 30% and 24% respectively. Whereas diagnostic centers and medical laboratories will benefit from up to 32% reduction in permit fees. Other segments that will benefit are community pharmacy and non-diagnostic medical laboratories. 

Further, to strengthen key support services in the DHCC Community such as retail, hospitality, consultancies, and professional training centers, non-clinical operating permit fees have been waived, benefitting more than 240 partners in the free zone.

Dr. Ramadan AlBlooshi, Chief Regulatory Officer – Dubai Healthcare City Authority, said, “As a regulatory body, we strive to adopt policies that will benefit our partners and ensure the sustainability of our services at Dubai Healthcare City. As part of the directives of the UAE’s Leadership, fee waivers and reductions have been made to attract investors to the free zone.”

In research and education, facilities in DHCC conducting research and/or education as their core services can benefit from up to 67% fee reduction when applying and/or renewing their permits. Whereas those applying for or renewing research permits – in addition to their core services, can benefit from up to 45% fee reduction. In addition, the fees for submission and ethics review for sponsored interventional studies have been reduced by 24%.