GAHAR, Egypt's General Authority for Healthcare Accreditation and Regulation, accredits each type of healthcare facility against its own handbook of standards. Hospitals use the Edition 2025 hospital handbook, valid from December 2024 to December 2028, while laboratories, ambulatory centres, radiology centres and other facility types each have their own handbook and edition.
This guide is for quality directors and accreditation coordinators in Egyptian hospitals, clinics, laboratories and specialist centres.
Which GAHAR handbook applies to your facility?
Start with the scope page of each handbook. It lists the facility types it covers and the ones it excludes. A standalone laboratory and a hospital laboratory, for example, fall under different handbooks.
The table lists the handbooks we checked on gahar.gov.eg in October 2026. Older editions call the safety requirements National Safety Requirements (NSRs). Newer ones call them GAHAR Safety Requirements (GSRs).
| Facility type | Handbook and edition | Period shown on the handbook | Safety requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hospitals: Ministry of Health, military, police, sectorial, private, charity, academic and teaching | Hospital Accreditation Standards, Edition 2025 (second edition) | December 2024 to December 2028 | 29 GSRs |
| Primary healthcare centres and units | Primary Healthcare Accreditation Standards, 2025 (second edition) | Not shown in the copy we checked | 21 GSRs |
| Ambulatory centres, including dialysis, day surgery, private clinics, polyclinics, dental, ophthalmology and community pharmacies | Ambulatory Healthcare Accreditation Standards, 2026 (second edition) | Effective 1 May 2026 | 18 GSRs |
| Standalone, specialised and reference clinical laboratories | Clinical Laboratories Accreditation Standards, 2025 (second edition) | Not shown in the copy we checked | 9 GSRs |
| Standalone and reference diagnostic and therapeutic radiology centres | Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiology Centers Accreditation Standards, first edition 2022 | October 2022 to October 2026 | 16 NSRs |
| Standalone mental health and addiction hospitals, addiction rehabilitation and detoxification centres | Mental Healthcare Accreditation Standards, first edition (labelled Edition 2022) | January 2023 to January 2027 | 30 NSRs |
| Convalescent homes, long-term care facilities and medical wellness facilities | Convalescent/Long-term Healthcare and Medical Wellness Accreditation Standards, second edition 2025 | March 2025 to March 2029 | 21 GSRs |
| Standalone physical therapy centres | Physical Therapy Accreditation Standards, 2025 (second edition) | December 2025 to December 2029 | 8 GSRs |
The radiology handbook's period ends in October 2026. Ask GAHAR whether a new edition has been issued before you plan against it. If your facility type is not in the table, ask GAHAR which handbook applies.
What does each specialised handbook cover?
The exclusions matter as much as the inclusions. The hospital handbook does not apply to day-care hospitals, long-term care facilities, wellness centres, mobile hospitals or virtual hospitals. Those facilities look to their own handbooks instead.
The laboratory handbook covers standalone labs, specialised labs such as genetics or molecular biology, and reference labs that receive samples from other facilities. Hospital laboratories that do not meet those criteria are excluded. They are assessed under the clinical laboratory standards inside the hospital handbook. The radiology handbook works the same way for hospital radiology departments.
The long-term care handbook has a main body for convalescent and long-term care. Medical wellness facilities are assessed against its Annex A. It excludes mental health hospitals, addiction and detoxification centres, home care and cosmetic facilities. Mental health and addiction services have their own handbook.
The ambulatory handbook covers care with a stay of less than 24 hours. It replaced the 2022 first edition and adds Annex A for community pharmacies and Annex B for private clinics. The physical therapy handbook covers standalone centres only. It excludes physical therapy inside long-term care and rehabilitation centres.
What changed in the 2025 hospital handbook?
The Edition 2025 hospital handbook is GAHAR's second hospital edition. It replaced the Edition 2021 handbook, whose own period ran from February 2021 to February 2025. GAHAR states that the 2025 hospital standards were accredited by ISQua, the International Society for Quality in Health Care, in December 2024.
The handbook has four sections and 16 chapters. The sections are accreditation prerequisites, patient-centred standards, organisation-centred standards and, where relevant, academic and teaching hospitals. The 29 GSRs sit at the start of the patient-centred section. Each chapter includes a summary of changes, which is the quickest way to find what moved since 2021.
Each standard comes with an intent, a survey process guide and evidence of compliance (EOCs). The EOCs are what surveyors score. Read them before you write any policy, because they name the documents, records and staff awareness the surveyor will look for. Our guide to JCI hospital accreditation under the 8th Edition compares how JCI structures the same ground.
How does GAHAR score a survey and decide on accreditation?
Surveyors score each EOC against the look-back period. An EOC is met at 80% compliance or more and partially met from 50% to under 80%. Below 50% it is not met. A standard's score is the average of its EOCs, and a chapter's score is the average of its standards.
Under the hospital handbook, full accreditation lasts three years. It needs at least 80% overall, at least 70% in every chapter, no more than one standard not met and no GSR not met. Lower scores lead to conditioned accreditation for two years or one year, with a resurvey. Below 60% overall, or any GSR not met, the result is rejection.
The other handbooks we checked use the same pattern, with an unmet safety requirement leading to rejection. Accredited facilities with unmet EOCs submit a corrective action plan within 90, 60 or 30 days, depending on the decision.
What is GAHAR provisional accreditation?
Provisional accreditation is a separate, shorter programme that comes before full accreditation. In 2025 GAHAR published provisional accreditation requirements for hospitals and for primary healthcare. They rest on Law No. 2 of 2018 on the universal health insurance system.
The provisional requirements have four parts: basic requirements, GAHAR Safety Requirements, essential quality requirements and an operating manual. In the hospital provisional requirements, the GSRs and the essential quality requirements each carry 45% of the score and the operating manual 10%. Surveyors sample at least 10 documents to check the operating manual.
Provisional accreditation lasts one calendar year and can be renewed. The facility must apply for full accreditation within three years of its governorate joining universal health insurance, or within three years of provisional accreditation elsewhere. It must also register at least 30% of its medical professionals before the visit.
What should you have ready before and after the survey?
Under the Edition 2025 hospital handbook, a hospital must have been operating for at least six months before it applies. It must comply with the standards for at least four months before the survey. For provisional accreditation the look-back is one month. Plan your records with this in mind.
Applications go through GAHAR's e-portal with a sealed declaration. GAHAR sets the fee and the survey date. The accreditation committee decides on the survey report, and GAHAR informs the hospital within 30 working days. The hospital then has 15 days to appeal.
Three duties continue after accreditation. Notify GAHAR in writing at least a month before adding or cancelling a service, or raising a service's volume by more than 20%. Report sentinel events within 48 hours. Submit the root cause analysis and corrective plan within 45 days.
The handbook separates documents, which plan the work, from records, which prove it was done. Surveyors need both. If GAHAR's quality programme sits alongside ISO work, our ISO 7101 guide covers the international healthcare quality standard.
How AGS can help
AGS sells editable Microsoft Word documentation kits for these GAHAR facility types. GAHAR revises its handbooks, so compare a kit's contents with the edition you will be surveyed against.
- GAHAR - Hospital (QMS): 56 documents
- Clinical Laboratory Quality Management System: 65 documents
- Ambulatory Healthcare Quality & Patient Safety Management System: 52 documents
- Radiology Quality, Radiation Safety & Patient Care Management System: 72 documents
- Mental Health Quality, Safety & Therapeutic Care Management System: 87 documents
- Long-Term Care & Medical Wellness Management System: 80 documents
- Physical Therapy Quality, Safety & Rehabilitation Care Management System: 73 documents
Other healthcare kits are in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical collection.
Frequently asked questions
How long does GAHAR accreditation last?
Full accreditation lasts three years. Conditioned accreditation lasts two years or one year, and the facility must pass a new survey within that time.
Is GAHAR accreditation the same as a facility licence?
No. The handbooks treat compliance with licensing requirements as a condition for accreditation. Licensing remains a separate legal requirement.
Which handbook does a day surgery centre use?
The ambulatory handbook names day surgery centres in its scope, and the hospital handbook excludes day-care hospitals. Confirm your classification with GAHAR when you apply.
Does buying documentation mean the facility will be accredited?
No. Documents are a starting point. Accreditation depends on how the system is implemented and on GAHAR's survey findings.
AGS provides independent documentation toolkits. This guide and the referenced kits are prepared to support GAHAR requirements. They are not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the General Authority for Healthcare Accreditation and Regulation, and they do not guarantee any survey or accreditation outcome.
Reviewed October 2026. Facts checked against the sources current at publication.
