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AyRojgar

Physiotherapy centre

A centre rehabilitating stroke, accident and pain patients through exercise and therapy machines. Running one without Rehabilitation Council approval carries two years' jail or a Tk 200,000 fine.

  • Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
  • Version 1
Starting capital
৳3,00,000 – ৳15,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
2 – 8 people
First sale
60 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
8 – 12 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Hard

What the business is

Treating a limb left useless after a stroke, a back broken in a road accident, a frozen shoulder, an arthritic knee or Bell's palsy, by working the patient's body by hand and with machines. This is not a medicine business, it is a time business. A therapist gives each patient 45 to 60 minutes, so no more than eight or ten a day are possible. Growing the income means adding therapists or adding rooms - there is no third way. The demand is not in doubt. Pabna's 250-bed General Hospital has no working physiotherapy centre at all; a few staff give basic therapy voluntarily to only eight or ten people a day. Patients therefore go to private centres, sometimes travelling 100 kilometres each way, every day. The law is tightening. Section 14 of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council Act 2018 says a rehabilitation service institution must obtain the Council's approval even if it holds approval under any other law, on pain of up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of one to two lakh taka or both. Section 15 requires professionals to register and practitioners to be licensed, with the same penalty. And one rule catches people out: a physiotherapy centre has no provision to admit patients.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳40,000 – ৳2,50,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳500 – ৳2,000 / unitMarket quote
Variable cost৳50 – ৳150 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin70% – 97.5%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue60 – 180 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time8 – 12 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 1 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss10% – 20%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity8 – 10Market quote

What you need to start

  • Treatment couches with curtains, parallel bars, exercise mats and balls, a walker; and machines - infrared radiation (IRR), ultrasound therapy (UST), TENS and traction. No dated price for clinic-grade versions of these was found. Daraz on 16-09-2026 listed portable TENS and ultrasound therapy devices at Tk 1,100-7,550 from sellers including Galaxy Health Care and Health Proo, but these are small home-use units, not clinic machines.Equipment
  • Registration of the rehabilitation professional and the practitioner licence from the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council, section 15. Both are required even if the person is registered or licensed under another law. Practising without them carries up to two years' imprisonment or a Tk 100,000-200,000 fine or both. Section 31 applies the Mobile Court Act 2009.Licence
  • 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. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
  • Approval of the rehabilitation service institution by the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council (Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council Act 2018, Act 71 of 2018, dated 14 November 2018), section 14. Approval must be obtained from the Council even if the institution is approved under any other law, and existing institutions had 180 days from commencement to apply. Operating without it carries up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of Tk 100,000-200,000 or both. The fee amount is set in the 2025 Rules and was not obtained in this research.Licence
  • Admitting patients is not allowed. Physiotherapy and rehabilitation centres have no provision to admit, and a centre found with admitted patients without DGHS permission is ordered closed. The Health Services Division's 2018 licence fee circular has no category for a physiotherapy centre - it lists medical college hospitals, hospitals and clinics, diagnostic labs in categories A, B and C, dental clinics and medical checkup centres for foreign travel.Licence
  • A BSc (PT) or BPT degree from a recognised university. Weak skill here harms patients directly - specialists complain that with poor supervision, steroid injections and arthritis drugs are being misused, with serious side effects.Skill
  • At least two therapy cubicles on the ground floor or in a building with a lift, a waiting area and a clean toilet. Many patients arrive in wheelchairs or supported, so doors and corridors must be wide.Workspace

How the work runs

  1. 1Settle your own qualification first. This service cannot be given without a BSc (PT) or BPT degree from a recognised university, and without the degree the Council's licence will not come either.
  2. 2Take the professional registration and practitioner licence from the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council (section 15). Practising without it carries up to two years' jail or a Tk 100,000-200,000 fine.
  3. 3Take a separate approval for the institution (section 14). A rehabilitation service institution must have the Council's approval even if it is approved under any other law - the person's licence and the institution's approval are two different things.
  4. 4Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality and a TIN from NBR.
  5. 5Choose the premises - near a hospital or a large diagnostic centre, on the ground floor or in a building with a lift. Stroke and spinal patients cannot climb stairs, and that is the first condition of the site.
  6. 6Fit out the therapy room: treatment couches with curtains, parallel bars, exercise mats and balls, a walker. The machines are infrared radiation (IRR), ultrasound therapy (UST), TENS and traction - it is exactly these that Pabna's government hospital lacks, which is why its service is stuck.
  7. 7Do not put in beds for admitting patients. Physiotherapy and rehabilitation centres have no provision to admit, and on 17 January 2024 two Chattogram centres found with admitted patients were ordered shut within 24 hours.
  8. 8Build referral relationships - orthopaedic, neurology and rheumatology doctors, hospital wards and diagnostic centres. Patients here do not come from advertising; they come on a doctor's advice.
  9. 9Keep an assessment and session record for every patient and give printed receipts. The treatment runs long, so families want the count of sessions as much as you do.
  10. 10Be careful about writing 'Dr' before your name. Section 29 of the BMDC Act 2010 bars anyone without an MBBS or BDS from using it, on pain of three years' jail or a Tk 100,000 fine. Section 19 of the Rehabilitation Council Act says the Council will decide titles, and the 2011 writ on the question is still undecided.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it fits

  • Strong fitChattogram · The city has many physiotherapy and neuro-rehabilitation centres, but the divisional health director's inspections are also regular here.
  • Strong fitDhaka · The country's big therapy centres are here, including CRP at Savar; the Child Development Centre at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital now sees 80-120 children a day against 20-25 six or seven years ago.
  • Strong fitPabna · The 250-bed General Hospital has no working physiotherapy centre and manages only eight to ten patients a day, so patients travel 100 kilometres each way - the gap is plain.
  • PossibleBogura · The medical hub of the north, where patients from surrounding districts come.
  • PossibleCumilla · Accident cases from the Dhaka-Chattogram highway plus demand from returnee migrant families.
  • PossibleGazipur · Factory workers bring a steady flow of back and neck pain and machine injuries.
  • PossibleKhulna · A divisional city drawing patients from surrounding districts, with comparatively few private centres.
  • PossibleMymensingh · Referrals around the medical college hospital, with a growing elderly population in the district.
  • PossibleRajshahi · A divisional medical college and referrals from surrounding districts, with heavy road accident caseloads.
  • PossibleSylhet · Remittance families can afford to keep paying, so patients able to sustain long courses of therapy are easier to find.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: Two layers of approval are needed and both carry the same heavy penalty. No institutional approval (section 14) means up to two years' jail or a Tk 100,000-200,000 fine; no professional registration and licence (section 15) means the same. Section 31 applies the Mobile Court Act, so a magistrate can penalise on the spot. With the Rules made in 2025 and the Regulations in 2026, enforcement should now be starting.
  • HighCompliance: Admitting patients closes you in 24 hours. On 17 January 2024 the Chattogram divisional health director found admitted patients at two physiotherapy and neuro-rehabilitation centres in Panchlaish and ordered them shut within a day. Keeping a patient overnight looks like extra income; it is the fastest way to lose the business.
  • HighOther: The legal uncertainty over titles is unresolved. Section 29 of the BMDC Act 2010 bars anyone without an MBBS or BDS from using 'Dr', on pain of three years' jail or a Tk 100,000 fine or both. On a 2011 writ the court gave an interim direction that BSc (PT) and BPT holders should not be arrested under it, but the rule is still undecided and the order gives no express permission to use 'Dr'. The president of PAB says people have been arrested for using the title unlawfully.
  • MediumDependency: The whole income rests on the therapist's own body. One therapist cannot give more than eight or ten sessions a day, and if she falls ill or leaves, the day's income is zero. If the owner is not himself a therapist the dependence is worse, because the licence is in the person's name.
  • MediumDemand: The demand is there but the patient's money runs out. This treatment has no fixed end - some improve in months, others need years. A day labourer in Chapainawabganj spent about Tk 1.2 million over eleven years and sold part of his house. When a patient stops mid-course, your recurring income stops with him.

Sources

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