KMPDC Facility Licensing Requirements: Level 2, 3A and 3B Explained

Jodroc Limited · 17 October 2026 · 14 min read

KMPDC facility licensing requirements at a glance: which level is my facility?

This table is a starting point, not a self-assessment KMPDC accepts. The Council assigns your level after inspection, based on the checklist in section 6 below.

What changed in the 2021 reform

KMPDC gazetted new categorisation rules on 31 December 2021, replacing a seven-tier system with twelve levels, and these are the KMPDC facility licensing requirements every existing and new facility is now assessed against. The change moved the basic unit of the old system (the clinic, formerly Level 2) down a notch: a new Level 1, the Community Health Unit run by a community health extension worker, now sits below it, and “the basic level of any facility run by a medical or dental officer is now classified as Level 3B,” according to KMPDC’s own announcement.

In practice, this means a solo-practitioner clinic that might have called itself “Level 2” under the old rules is very likely a Level 3B facility today. The rules affect more than 15,000 registered facilities and set out, level by level, which services a facility may offer against its actual staffing and infrastructure, rather than leaving it to the owner’s judgement.

Level 2: clinics, dispensaries and specialist outpatient facilities

Level 2 covers several distinct facility types, each with its own staffing and infrastructure baseline. None of them admit patients overnight.

A Level 2 facility registers and renews at KES 10,000 and KES 15,000 respectively, except a stand-alone funeral home, which registers at KES 15,000 and renews at KES 20,000 (see the fee table in section 8).

Level 3A: comprehensive health centre

Level 3A is a comprehensive health centre, and KMPDC’s own definition is specific: “a health facility that provides comprehensive curative, preventive, promotive and rehabilitative health services.” Nursing homes, cottage hospitals and maternity homes also fall under this category when they meet its minimums, and the KMPDC facility licensing requirements below apply to all of them equally.

Beds: 16 to 40, split across male, female, paediatric and maternity wards.

Minimum staffing: a visiting or resident specialist, two medical officers, six clinical officers and one graduate clinical officer, plus nursing, pharmacy, nutrition, physiotherapy and administrative staff.

Minimum infrastructure: an outpatient waiting bay, three consultation rooms, a treatment room, a maternity theatre, a minor theatre, a labour ward, a Class C laboratory, radiology and imaging, a pharmacy, a central sterilisation department, and functioning water, power and waste systems.

Services: curative and outpatient care, inpatient care, emergency obstetric surgery (caesarean section), newborn care, limited emergency inpatient care, mental health, normal deliveries, antenatal care, family planning, immunisation, basic oral health, nutrition and school health.

Registration costs KES 15,000, and online annual renewal costs KES 20,000.

Level 3B: general medical and dental practice clinic

Level 3B is the level most solo and small-group practices land on, and it is also the thinnest-documented level in KMPDC’s own public checklist, which is part of why it is so often searched and so rarely explained well.

Leadership and staffing: the facility must be headed by a medical officer (or, for the dental equivalent, a dental surgeon) with at least three years of post-registration practical experience. That person can be the facility’s owner, its administrator and its officer in charge of clinical services at once, provided the experience requirement is met. Staffing beyond the officer in charge typically includes clinical officers, nurses, pharmaceutical technologists and laboratory personnel, scaled to the services actually offered.

Infrastructure: designated treatment areas, a triage point, and sterilisation facilities (a validated autoclave for a dental practice, specifically), with the exact unit list depending on which services the clinic offers. Unlike Level 3A, there is no bed-count minimum, because Level 3B facilities are outpatient-only.

What the inspection checklist asks first: KMPDC’s Level 3B categorisation checklist opens with the same two items every level opens with: a valid facility registration and licence displayed, and valid registration and licence for every health professional seen, each worth marks toward your score (see section 6). After that it checks for patient referral protocols, meaning a documented arrangement for where a patient goes if the clinic cannot treat them.

Registration and renewal fees are identical to Level 2’s standard tier: KES 10,000 to register, KES 15,000 to renew annually, whether the clinic is medical or dental.

What KMPDC inspectors actually score

KMPDC’s Public Health Checklist Rules assign points, not a pass/fail checkbox, across five areas that apply regardless of level, with the exact point values shifting slightly at Level 4 and above. This scoring sheet is the practical, day-to-day version of the KMPDC facility licensing requirements set out earlier.

Staffing documentation. A named technical officer in charge, with their qualification, registering authority and registration number on file. A complete staff list with cadre and registration details, and certified copies of certificates. Inspectors verify a 5 to 10 percent sample of staff registration numbers against the regulator’s own records, so a facility cannot simply list credentials it cannot back up on the day.

Licensing and registration. Current registration or licence with the relevant board for every cadre on site: the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, Nursing Council, Clinical Officers Council, Radiation Protection Board, Pharmacy and Poisons Board, Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board, and the Nutritionists and Dieticians Institute, as applicable. Each certificate must be both valid and physically displayed, not merely held on file.

Infrastructure. Safe water with adequate storage, a stable power source, functioning toilets, a lockable door with security, fire control equipment and a documented firefighting protocol, adequate ventilation and lighting, legible signage, and a wheelchair ramp. At Level 4 and above, fire-control items carry a different point weighting than at lower levels, and reception-area equipment is scored separately.

Equipment by service. The checklist is itemised by department: an examination couch and consultation table for the exam room; a delivery bed, sterile delivery set, vacuum extractor, suction machine, ambu bag, oxygen supply and emergency drug tray for a labour ward; a functional incubator with oxygen connection for a newborn unit; a BP machine, thermometer, pulse oximeter and suction machine for general wards; a calibrated scale, stadiometer, MUAC tape and glucometer for nutrition services; and at least three lead aprons for radiology.

Equipment upkeep. Across every service area, inspectors look for a preventive maintenance plan, a service contract, a written calibration schedule and calibration records for that equipment, not just the equipment’s presence. A clinic that owns a sterilizer but cannot produce its validation and cycle log is scored as if the control does not exist.

Registration process and documents

Meeting the KMPDC facility licensing requirements on paper is only half the task; the full process, drawn from KMPDC’s Form XIII application and confirmed against a 2025 interview with KMPDC’s CEO, runs in this order:

1. Choose and secure the premises, with county approval for the building or its change of use.
2. Pass county public health inspection, which checks drainage, sewerage, accessibility and waste management, and issues a compliance report dated within the last six months.
3. Register the business name and obtain a business registration certificate, since a private facility is also a registered business.
4. Complete Form XIII in block letters and assemble the supporting documents below.
5. Submit to KMPDC for a completeness check; the Council requests anything missing.
6. Physical inspection. KMPDC now inspects the premises directly to confirm they exist and meet infrastructure requirements, rather than relying on the county’s compliance report alone.
7. Decision. KMPDC registers the facility at a stated level, or gives written reasons for refusal.
8. Operating licence. Once registered, you apply for the annual operating licence separately.

Supporting documents for Form XIII:

• Sanitation inspection report from the County Health Management Team (within 6 months)
• Certified copy of Certificate of Incorporation, Trustee Deed, or County Secretary’s letter, with the registered name matching the services offered
• Certified copy of a valid CR12 (within 6 months)
• Certified copies of directors’ ID cards or passports, plus current colour passport photos
• Certified copies of academic and professional certificates for all medical personnel
• Certified copies of current registration certificates and licences for all medical personnel, from the relevant regulatory board
• Certificate of Status for the officer in charge of clinical services
• Certified copy of an employment contract or job offer for each listed healthcare provider
• A NEMA environmental compliance certificate, or a signed contract with a NEMA-licensed medical waste management provider
• Architectural plan approved by the county development committee, for new construction
• A full list of equipment available at the institution
• Data Controller certificate from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner
• Evidence of the prescribed fee payment

KMPDC states facility registration is completed within 21 days of receiving the inspection report (14 days for Level 6A), and the overall process, including verification and inspection, is commonly described as taking up to six weeks end to end. A facility in a restricted area, per KMPDC’s published list, will not be considered regardless of how complete the application is.

Registration and licence renewal fees (2025)

Budgeting for the KMPDC facility licensing requirements means budgeting for these fees too. These figures come directly from the KMPDC Service Charter 2025. Fees change between editions of the charter, so confirm the current amount on kmpdc.go.ke before budgeting.

Facility upgrade inspections carry no fee. Annual renewal, once a facility is already registered, is processed online and KMPDC states most renewals complete within 30 minutes, though the 2026 renewal window itself (opened 9 October, closing 31 October 2026) is a fixed annual cycle, not a rolling deadline, and KMPDC has said late renewal can lead to penalties including suspension from practice.

Why facilities get downgraded or shut down

This is not a hypothetical risk. In August 2025, KMPDC closed 158 health facilities in Nairobi over failure to meet medical standards and downgraded a further 25. In a separate, nationwide action reported the same year, the Council closed 511 facilities and, in another round, shut 544 and cancelled 454 licences for non-compliance, most tied to unregistered or unlicensed operation rather than a single catastrophic failure. Private hospital operators have, in turn, threatened legal action over downgrade decisions they considered unjustified, which signals that the level a facility is assigned carries real commercial consequences, not just a classification label.

The pattern across these enforcement actions is consistent with what the checklist in section 6 actually scores: missing or expired staff licences, equipment present without maintenance or calibration records, and infrastructure that does not match what was approved at registration. A facility that passed its original registration can still fail a later compliance inspection if staffing changes go unreported or equipment records lapse.

KMPDC licensing and SHA accreditation

KMPDC licensing and SHA (Social Health Authority) contracting are two different processes run by two different bodies, but they are not independent of each other. SHA’s own published onboarding criteria state that it empanels “licensed and certified providers and facilities.” The documentation SHA requires for its contracting cycle, which runs October 2026 to June 2029 for the current round, explicitly includes a valid facility licence, confirmed professional registration credentials, a beneficial ownership declaration, proof of tax compliance, and a bank account held in the facility’s own name.

In practice, this means your KMPDC registration and licence are a prerequisite you need in hand before SHA contracting can proceed, not a parallel paperwork track you can finish later. A facility registered at the wrong level, or operating on an expired licence, has a weaker starting position for SHA empanelment regardless of how strong its digital claims infrastructure is.

Equipment you need at each level

The checklist in section 6 names equipment by service, not by level, because two Level 3B clinics offering different services need different kits. A general Level 3B or Level 2 outpatient clinic needs, at minimum, an examination couch, a consultation table, a BP machine, a thermometer, a pulse oximeter, a validated autoclave with cycle logs, and sharps and waste disposal bins. A dental practice at Level 2 or 3B needs dental chairs, a Class B autoclave, and sterilisation instruments specifically. A Level 3A comprehensive health centre adds a Class C laboratory, radiology and imaging equipment, a maternity theatre set, and a central sterilisation department’s worth of equipment on top of the Level 2 baseline.

We cover the full equipment list, with current KES pricing and the sequence to buy in if cash is tight, in a separate, dedicated guide rather than repeating it here. For the compliance side specifically, our posts on autoclave validation and cycle logging and sterilizer validation beyond the autoclave go directly to the equipment-upkeep records inspectors ask for in section 6 above.

If your facility handles x-ray or imports its own equipment, our guides on X-ray machine calibration and importing medical equipment into Kenya cover the KNRA and PPB sides respectively. Jodroc supplies and services equipment across all of these levels. Where you buy it from does not change what KMPDC requires, but a supplier who hands you calibration and validation documentation at delivery makes the equipment-upkeep score in section 6 easier to pass on the first inspection.

Frequently asked questions