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AyRojgar

Diagnostic centre

A centre for blood tests, X-ray and ultrasonogram. It needs a DGHS licence, with an annual fee of Tk 15,000-50,000 by category and location.

  • Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
  • Version 1
Starting capital
৳8,00,000 – ৳1,50,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
3 – 15 people
First sale
90 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
20 – 35 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Hard

What the business is

A centre that runs blood and urine tests, X-ray and ultrasonogram, and at the higher end CT scan or MRI, and issues reports. In law it is a 'private laboratory' and under the 1982 Ordinance its regulator is the Director-General of Health Services. The licence fee is annual and depends on what tests are offered and where the centre sits. Under the Health Services Division circular of 4 September 2018, a Category A lab - one that includes CT scan and MRI - pays Tk 50,000 a year in a city corporation or divisional area, Tk 40,000 at district level and Tk 25,000 at upazila level. Category B, without CT and MRI, pays Tk 35,000 / 25,000 / 20,000. Category C, doing only routine pathology, biochemistry, haematology, X-ray and ultrasonogram, pays Tk 25,000 / 20,000 / 15,000. The earlier fee for all of them was Tk 1,000, so the jump hit small centres hard. The real money, though, goes into machines, and a machine loses value whether it is used or idle, so everything turns on how many patients walk in each day. The rules are strict too: a register of patients' names and addresses, printed receipts with counterfoils kept for inspection, and a list of charges displayed prominently on the wall.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳1,50,000 – ৳15,00,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳300 – ৳2,000 / unitEditorial estimate
Variable cost৳90 – ৳800 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin60% – 70%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue90 – 365 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time20 – 35 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 45 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss3% – 8%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity30 – 250Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • Equipment by category: Category C needs analysers for routine pathology, biochemistry and haematology plus X-ray and ultrasonogram machines; Category B adds histopathology, microbiology, immunology and hormone testing; Category A adds CT scan and MRI. Machine prices could not be verified in this research.Equipment
  • Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, plus VAT and signboard fee. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
  • Patient register and printed receipts: every private laboratory must keep a register of patients' names and addresses, issue printed receipts for all charges collected, preserve the counterfoils for inspection, and prominently display a list of charges. (1982 Ordinance, sections 6 and 7.)Licence
  • Private diagnostic centre licence from the Directorate General of Health Services (Director-General), Hospitals and Clinics Branch. Annual licence and renewal fee: Diagnostic Lab Category A (including CT scan and MRI) Tk 50,000 in a divisional/city corporation area, Tk 40,000 at district, Tk 25,000 at upazila; Category B Tk 35,000 / 25,000 / 20,000; Category C Tk 25,000 / 20,000 / 15,000. (Health Services Division circular of 04-09-2018; the previous fee was Tk 1,000.)Licence
  • A registered doctor or pathologist to sign reports and a trained medical technologist for each section. A wrong report harms the patient and becomes a complaint to the Director-General.Skill
  • A steady supplier of reagents and kits, X-ray film or digital printing, and a service contract for the machines. A week of downtime is a week of income that does not come back.Supplier
  • A separate sample collection room, a testing area, a shielded X-ray room, and seating for patients and attendants. If patients are admitted and treated on the same premises it is no longer a laboratory but a clinic, which needs its own licence and at least 80 square feet of floor space per patient plus an air-conditioned operation theatre.Workspace

How the work runs

  1. 1Decide the category first. With CT scan and MRI it is A; without those but with histopathology, microbiology and hormone tests it is B; with only routine pathology, biochemistry, haematology, X-ray and ultrasonogram it is C. The annual fee changes with the category.
  2. 2Look for premises near doctors' chambers, a hospital or a medical college. Patients get tested within walking distance of wherever the prescription was written.
  3. 3Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee by trade type; issued in 3-5 working days.
  4. 4Apply for new registration as a Private Diagnostic Centre through the online system of the DGHS Hospitals and Clinics Branch. Renewal is later done online through the same system.
  5. 5Deposit the annual licence fee by challan according to category and location: Category A is Tk 50,000 in a city corporation, Tk 40,000 at district and Tk 25,000 at upazila level; Category C is Tk 25,000, Tk 20,000 and Tk 15,000.
  6. 6Buy and install the machines. This is the largest part of the capital and the place where the worst mistakes are made - buying a machine the patients do not exist for.
  7. 7Hire: medical technologists, trained staff for X-ray and ultrasonogram, and a registered doctor or pathologist to sign reports.
  8. 8Start the register of patients' names and addresses, issue a printed receipt for every amount collected and preserve the counterfoils for inspection - these are legal obligations.
  9. 9Display a list of charges and fees prominently inside the centre. This too is required by law.
  10. 10Keep contact with doctors and hospitals - patients arrive along the path of the prescription, not along the path of advertising.
  11. 11Renew the licence every year. The renewal fee equals the new licence fee and must be budgeted as an annual cost.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulHigh
  8. AugHigh
  9. SepHigh
  10. OctHigh
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it fits

  • Strong fitBogura · The medical hub of the north, drawing patients from several surrounding districts, and the district-level licence fee is lower than Dhaka's.
  • Strong fitChattogram · A medical college hospital and a port-driven population, with demand from workers being tested before going abroad.
  • Strong fitDhaka · The densest concentration of medical colleges, specialist hospitals and doctors' chambers - though the licence fee is at its highest band here and competition is fiercest.
  • Strong fitMymensingh · A heavy patient flow around the medical college hospital, with people coming in from neighbouring districts.
  • PossibleCumilla · Patients around the highway and the medical college hospital, with the lower district-level fee keeping fixed costs down.
  • PossibleGazipur · Dense factory-worker settlement gives institutional work in pre-employment and annual check-ups, though those bills come late.
  • PossibleKhulna · A divisional city with a medical college hospital and patients from the south.
  • PossibleRangpur · A divisional city with a medical college, but lower purchasing power, so costly machines like CT or MRI find fewer patients.
  • PossibleSylhet · Remittance families' spending power makes demand for expensive tests relatively strong.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: The licence is annual and the fee was raised in 2018 from Tk 1,000 to between Tk 15,000 and Tk 50,000 by category. A centre that cannot set that money aside every year falls behind on renewal, and a centre running without renewal can be closed any day. Under the 1982 Ordinance the Director-General or an authorised officer may inspect any laboratory and, on finding a breach, recommend to the Government that it be closed.
  • HighWorking capital: The money goes into machines and a machine loses value standing idle. An X-ray or ultrasonogram unit costs much the same whether it sees five patients a day or fifty, so this business is won or lost on patient numbers, not on price. Once the machine is bought and the patients do not come there is no way back: it ages, and resale does not return half.
  • HighDependency: Patients do not come on their own; they come because a doctor wrote it down. So the income really comes from the chambers and hospitals nearby. If one busy doctor moves his chamber or the hospital opens its own lab, volume falls overnight while the instalments on the machines stay the same.
  • MediumOther: A wrong report is the real danger here, and the 1982 Ordinance's penalty does not measure up to it: the maximum fine on the owner of a private laboratory is Tk 5,000, with possible forfeiture of the movable property in the laboratory. The punishment that actually bites is local - once the name is damaged, doctors stop sending patients.

Sources

What changed

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