Check a Clinic, Lab or Hospital Is Licensed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Check if a clinic, lab or hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is licensed on the free KP Health Care Commission list. We counted 299 entries and only 19 labs.
To check a clinic, lab or hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, open the KP Health Care Commission's "Licensed HCEs" list at hcc.kp.gov.pk and filter by district and category. It is free. But only 299 places were on it when we checked, so also ask to see the registration certificate.
A new lab opens near the bazaar. A clinic puts up a big board with a doctor's name. Neither tells you whether the province has ever looked inside. KP's regulator keeps two kinds of record: registration and licence. Most people do not know there is a difference. We went through the public list page by page on 1 October 2026, and the numbers explain why the difference matters.
Registration and licence are two different checks in KP
Registration is the first, compulsory step: no health care can be given at an establishment that is not registered with the KP Health Care Commission. A licence comes later. It means the place met the Commission's quality standards for its category.
The Commission's Directorate of Licensing explains it plainly. Registration is "the initial enlistment" of a facility in the official register. Licensing "is a lengthy process" tied to the Service Delivery Standards for each type of establishment.
The gap between the two is large. The Commission's Annual Report 2025-26 says 23,041 establishments are registered in total, with 2,574 new ones registered that year. The public licensed list had 299 entries on 1 October 2026.
| Check | What it means | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | Legally allowed to operate; entered in the register | Certificate at the premises; no public search found |
| Licence | Assessed against quality standards | Public list at hcc.kp.gov.pk |
| Doctor's own licence | Personally registered to practise | PMDC search at pmdc.pk |
The licensed list takes four steps to search
Open hcc.kp.gov.pk, go to Directorates, then Licensing, then "Licensed HCEs". Choose the district and category, press Filter, and read the licence number, issue date, expiry date, name and address for each entry.
- Open the list. It is at hcc.kp.gov.pk/licensed-hces, under the Licensing menu.
- Pick a district. The filter lists districts from Abbottabad to Upper Dir.
- Pick a category. Choices include Hospital, Laboratory, Dental Clinic, General Practitioner Clinic and Specialist Clinic.
- Read the row. Match the name and address. Check the expiry date is in the future.
Of the 299 licences on the list, 289 ran for three years from the issue date. A licence number looks like 05-0088/26.
We counted only 19 licensed labs on the KP list
On 1 October 2026 the KP licensed list held 299 establishments: 162 hospitals, 62 general practitioner clinics, 32 specialist clinics, 22 dental clinics, 19 laboratories, one CT scan centre and one MRI centre. Of the 299, 291 were private.
The list is heavily weighted to a few districts. Peshawar had 112 entries, Abbottabad 43, Swat 28 and Mardan 21. Many districts had fewer than ten.
So if your lab is not on the list, do not panic. It probably means it is registered but not yet licensed. That is legal to operate, but it has not passed the full quality check. For a test that decides a big treatment, such as a biopsy or a hepatitis result, a licensed lab or a large government hospital lab gives you more assurance.
The same thinking applies beyond clinics. You can check a medicine is registered with DRAP before you buy it, and in Punjab you can check a blood bank is licensed before a transfusion.
A registration certificate is what to ask for
Because there is no public search of the 23,041 registered establishments that we could find, the practical check is to ask the clinic or lab for its KP Health Care Commission registration certificate and note the details.
A registered establishment applies online at registrationhcc.kp.gov.pk and gets a certificate within 30 days if it meets the criteria, the Commission says. So any working clinic should have one. Ask politely. Note the name on it and the address.
Registration is not expensive, which makes a missing certificate harder to excuse. The Commission's published fees include:
- General practitioner clinic: Rs 5,000.
- Dental clinic with one chair: Rs 5,000.
- Hospital of any size: Rs 10,000.
- Homeopathic or tibb clinic: Rs 3,000.
Then check the doctor separately. A licensed building does not prove the person treating you is qualified. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council's free search at pmdc.pk shows whether a doctor's licence is active. If you are being treated under KP Sehat Card Plus, the hospital must already be on the programme's panel, which is a separate list.
Running an unregistered clinic carries a Rs 1 million fine
Under the Commission's Complaint Management Regulations, running a health care establishment without registration and licence, or beyond the scope of its licence, can bring a fine of up to Rs 1 million on the owner. Quackery is a separate, criminal offence.
The Commission's homepage says quackery is a non-bailable and cognizable offence. A quack can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to Rs 1 million, or both. The Commission runs a Quackery Management System and a complaint portal, both linked from its homepage.
To report a clinic you think is unregistered, or a quack, contact the Commission at Sector B-3, Phase 5, Hayatabad, Peshawar, on (091) 9217014 or info.hcc@kp.gov.pk. Its inspectors work from regional offices in 16 districts and can issue notices and temporarily seal premises.
Common questions
Is the KP licensed clinic list free to use?
Yes. It is a public page on hcc.kp.gov.pk with no login.
My lab is not on the licensed list. Is it illegal?
Not necessarily. Most establishments are registered but not yet licensed. Ask for the registration certificate.
How many clinics and labs are registered in KP?
23,041 in total, according to the Commission's Annual Report 2025-26.
How long does a KP health licence last?
Three years. Of the 299 licences on the list, 289 ran for three years from the issue date.
Does a licensed clinic mean the doctor is qualified?
No. Check the doctor separately on the PMDC search at pmdc.pk.
Where do I report a quack in KP?
Report to the KP Health Care Commission on (091) 9217014 or info.hcc@kp.gov.pk, or through the links on its homepage.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
Last checked at 8:50 pm PKT on 1 October 2026. We read all 30 pages of the Licensed HCEs list and counted the 299 entries by category, sector and district ourselves. We read the Commission's Directorate of Licensing page for the registration process and fees, its Directorate of Inspections page, its homepage for the quackery penalty, its contact page, the Complaint Management Regulations 2022 for the Rs 1 million fine, and its Annual Report 2025-26 for the registration totals. We could not find a public search of registered (as opposed to licensed) establishments. The Registration and Licensing Rules 2025 on the site are a scanned PDF that we could not read as text, so we did not quote them.
About the author
Public Services and Education Journalist
Fajr Riaz is a journalist and content writer at Pakistan Era, based in Lahore. She covers the questions people meet in everyday life in Pakistan: how a public service works, what a change in the rules means, and where to find a reliable answer.
