The Namibia Institute of Pathology Limited (NIP) was established by virtue of the Namibia Institute of Pathology Act 15 of 1999, with the primary mandate of providing laboratory services to both the private and state healthcare sectors across Namibia on a commercial basis. With the Promulgation of the Public Enterprise Governance Act 1 of 2019, NIP has been classified as a Commercial Public Enterprise, with public policy objectives.

At its inception, NIP operated 23 laboratories, as taken over from the Ministry of Health and Social Services. Since then, NIP has grown significantly, having expanded geographically and increased the scope of medical services offered to its clients. At present, NIP operates 36 laboratories across the country, providing medical laboratory service to individual customers, health care institutions, medical doctors, and pathology service users.