Clinic registration Karnataka: KPME steps and fee Who must register under the KPME Act, the portal steps, the fee by category and the display duties.

Yes, every private clinic in Karnataka has to register, including a one-doctor consulting room. Section 3 of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007 says no private medical establishment "shall be established, run or maintained in the State except under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of registration granted under this Act". The application goes through the KPME portal run by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, and the district authority grants it after a local inspection. Below: who is covered, how the portal works, what it costs and what the Act asks of your front desk once you are registered.

Which law governs clinic registration in Karnataka?

Karnataka uses its own Act, the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007 (Karnataka Act 21 of 2007), not the central Clinical Establishments Act, 2010. It has been amended several times, most substantially by the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2017 (Karnataka Act 1 of 2018, published in the Gazette on 6 January 2018), which renamed the district body, added the Patient's Charter and raised the fines. The portal's application form asks you to agree to "KPME act 2007, KPME rule 2009, KPME amendment act 2017 and KPME rule 2018", so all four apply to a new application. Our states list shows where Karnataka sits against the rest of India.

Does a single-doctor OPD clinic need KPME registration?

Yes. Section 2(n) defines a private medical establishment as "a hospital or dispensary with beds or without beds", and lists "Clinic, Polyclinic, Consultation Centre" among the establishments covered; the 2017 amendment added "Dental Clinic or Dental Polyclinic". There is no exemption for a solo practitioner. The only exclusions are establishments run, maintained or sponsored by the State Government, a local authority or statutory body, government-controlled public sector undertakings and autonomous institutions, and government-controlled co-operatives, societies and trusts.

AYUSH practice is inside the Act, not outside it. "Medical treatment" in section 2(l) covers allopathy and "Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy, Yoga, Naturopathy and Siddha", and "Department" in section 2(e) includes the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy. The portal's own category note describes a consultation-only clinic as one "providing examination, consultation, prescription to outpatients" by "a single / general practitioner/ specialist doctor", with minor procedures such as dressing and injections that do not need observation.

Who registers a clinic in Karnataka?

The Registration and Grievance Redressal Authority of your district. Section 4, as substituted in 2017, makes the Deputy Commissioner its chairman, the District Health and Family Welfare Officer its member secretary, and adds the District AYUSH Officer, one member from the Indian Medical Association and one from another association. The KPME user manual shows the working route: the Taluk Health Officer schedules and records the inspection, and the District Health Officer approves the application with an Aadhaar e-sign, after which the certificate is generated on the portal. Appeals against a refusal go to the state Appellate Authority, headed by the Commissioner for Health and Family Welfare, within thirty days (sections 16 and 17).

How do you apply on the KPME portal?

1. Sign up at kpme.karnataka.gov.in with the establishment's name, address and category, and create a username and password.
2. Pick the category carefully. "Clinic/Polyclinic Only Consultation" is the lowest fee; a dispensary, diagnostic support or an observation bed moves you to a ₹6,300 category.
3. Fill the application: specialities, ownership details, admin or manager details, human resource details, internal grievance redressal and your schedule of charges, which records each doctor's consultation fee against their council registration number.
4. Upload certificates and documents as PDFs of up to 500 KB each. The sample screen in the user manual shows floor plans, a front view photograph, an occupancy or khata certificate, a fire safety certificate and a pollution control board certificate.
5. E-sign the application with an OTP to the e-sign person's mobile and Aadhaar OTP verification.
6. Pay online through the state's Khajane payment page; the manual says payment is "only by the online mode".
7. Wait for the inspection slot set by the Taluk Health Officer, then approval by the District Health Officer. The certificate is generated on the portal once approved.

The 2017 amendment put a clock on the authority: it must grant or reject "within ninety days from the date of receipt of the complete application in all respects", and "in case of any delay beyond ninety days the registration shall be deemed to have been granted" (section 7(1)). The same ninety-day rule applies to renewals under section 7(5). The portal's other bodies of paperwork, from fire to waste, are in our list of documents required to open a clinic.

What does KPME registration cost and how long is it valid?

Karnataka does not split registration into provisional and permanent the way the central Act does. Section 7(3) says every registration "shall be valid for a period of five years and may be renewed once in five years". The portal prints one amount per category with no separate renewal figure. Renewal is done through the "Auto Renewal" option after signing in with the original username; the renewal manual says a forgotten username is recovered by mailing the department with the previous KPME certificate attached. Other states' figures are in our fees by state table.

What must a registered clinic display and keep?

• Rates on the notice board. Section 10, as substituted in 2017, requires the consultation fee and the rates of major services on "the notice board of the establishment at a conspicuous place at the reception", on the government's public website, on your own website if you have one, and in a booklet available at all times. If the figures differ, "the least amount shall be considered to be effective".
• No charge above the displayed rate, with an itemised bill (section 10(2)). Overcharging found on a patient's complaint carries a penalty of one and a half times the amount overcharged (section 15(2)).
• The Patient's Charter and the establishment's charter, displayed "in such place easily visible to the public" (section 11(v)), published in Kannada and English under the Schedule.
• Clinical records kept in the prescribed manner (section 12), with a copy to the patient or a family member within seven days of a paid request, and the charge for copies displayed "at a prominent place" (section 13).
• A report to the authority of any government doctors who consult at your clinic, paid or unpaid (section 18).
• A bio-medical waste authorisation, which the portal's sample upload screen lists as a PCB certificate. See our guide to bio-medical waste rules for a small clinic.

What is the penalty for running a clinic without KPME registration?

Up to three years' imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹1 lakh. Section 19(1) originally said "imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend upto ten thousand rupees"; the 2017 amendment replaced "ten thousand" with "one lakh". On conviction the authority "shall direct immediate closure of the un-registered Private Medical Establishment" (section 19(2)), and section 22 allows the premises to be sealed. Breaking the conditions of registration or the records duties in sections 12 and 13 now carries a fine of up to ₹25,000, and up to ₹50,000 for a repeat. Separately, an establishment that ignores the authority's directions after an inspection can be fined up to ₹50,000 under section 15(1), and a charter violation found on complaint costs ₹10,000, then ₹25,000 within the same calendar year (section 15(3)).

Which other licences does a Karnataka clinic need?

KPME registration is the health licence; the building and the business need their own. Fire safety and an occupancy or khata certificate appear on the KPME upload screen itself, and our post on fire NOC and trade licence for clinics explains when each applies. Staff and opening hours fall under the shops and establishments law; see shop and establishment licence for clinics. Each doctor also needs current registration with the council, which our page on state medical councils covers.

Where Vitels fits

Vitels prints prescriptions on your own letterhead, A4 or A5, with the doctor's registration number, and each doctor's registration is verified at sign-up. The clinic admin can export the full patient and billing record as CSV at any time, which helps when the authority asks to inspect records under section 12. More on what registration involves across states is on our clinic registration in India page.