Medical tourism support

About the business

Handling papers, appointments, visas, tickets and accommodation for families who travel abroad for treatment. Finding the hospital, sending the reports and getting a cost estimate back, assembling the visa application, getting the patient across the border, and explaining the follow-up papers afterwards - that is the whole service. One thing has to be said plainly: Bangladesh has no separate licence called a 'medical tourism agency'. That does not mean anyone may do as they please. Section 4 of the Bangladesh Travel Agency (Registration and Control) Act 2013 says no person may set up or run a travel agency - defined as providing, for a commission or service charge, transport, accommodation or similar facilities connected with another person's travel - without a registration certificate. Booking a patient's ticket or fixing their hotel is exactly that. The certificate runs three years; miss the renewal window and the application can still be filed within six months on payment of a fine. Breaching the Act carries up to six months' imprisonment or a fine up to Tk 5,00,000, or both. The application must include a sworn affidavit that the agency will not take extra money, will not hold out false inducements and will not defraud - which is, in three lines, the real risk register of this trade.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• An affidavit, part of the application under section 5(1)(e), that no extra money will be taken from any person and no false inducement or fraud will be used in providing travel-related transport, accommodation and similar facilities.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, plus VAT and signboard fee. An attested copy is compulsory with the registration application.Licence
• Tax Identification Number (TIN) certificate from the National Board of Revenue. An attested copy is compulsory with the registration application.Licence
• Travel agency registration certificate under the Bangladesh Travel Agency (Registration and Control) Act 2013 (Act 61 of 2013). Section 4: without the certificate no one may establish or run a travel agency, meaning providing transport, accommodation and similar facilities connected with another person's travel for a commission or service charge. Valid 3 years from issue and renewable; if the renewal application is not filed in time it may still be filed within the next 6 months on payment of a government-fixed fine. The registering authority is designated by the Government by gazette notification. Fees are prescribed by rules and are not stated in the Act.Licence
• The applicant must be a Bangladeshi citizen and an adult, of sound mind, not an undischarged bankrupt, and if convicted of sedition or an offence involving moral turpitude must have completed two years since serving the sentence (section 6).Skill
• A direct line to the international patient department of the hospital abroad, and an authorised source for tickets. Remember that Bangladeshi law does not reach that hospital - it is you the patient will hold answerable.Supplier
• A business address, which must be stated in the application, and a change of address must be notified under section 8. For the work itself a small office, internet and a phone are enough.Workspace

How the work is done

1. 1Decide what you are actually selling: advice and appointments only, or the whole package with tickets and hotel. The moment it is the second, you are a travel agency in law and cannot operate without a registration certificate.
2. 2Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality and a TIN from the National Board of Revenue - the registration application needs attested copies of both.
3. 3If you run it as a company, keep attested copies of the memorandum and articles of association and the certificate of incorporation ready.
4. 4Swear the affidavit: that in providing transport, accommodation or similar travel facilities you will not take extra money from anyone, will not hold out false inducements and will not resort to fraud. It is a compulsory part of the application.
5. 5Apply to the registering authority in the prescribed form with the fee. If granted, the certificate comes within 15 days; if refused, you are told the recorded reasons within 15 days of the decision.
6. 6Fix the hospital side: which hospitals in which country you will deal with directly, who will read your patient's reports and send back a cost estimate, and whether that estimate will come in writing.
7. 7Give the family the numbers in writing: the estimated treatment cost, your own service charge, and what is outside your control. Estimates given by mouth come back as quarrels.
8. 8Assemble the visa papers. A medical visa normally needs a referral from a doctor here and a letter from the hospital abroad, and the rules can change at any time, so check the current requirement before every application.
9. 9Arrange the journey - air or land port, depending on how much the patient can move. A land port like Benapole costs less, but the road is hard on a sick patient.
10. 10Do the work after the return as well: hand over the reports, the prescriptions and the follow-up dates. Your next patient will come out of this family's mouth.
11. 11The registration certificate runs three years - write the date down. If the application is not filed in time it can still be made within the next six months, on payment of a fine.

Sources

• বাংলাদেশ ট্রাভেল এজেন্সি (নিবন্ধন ও নিয়ন্ত্রণ) আইন, ২০১৩ (২০১৩ সনের ৬১ নং আইন)

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital, Time to first revenue · বাংলাদেশ

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

• বাংলাদেশ ট্রাভেল এজেন্সি (নিবন্ধন ও নিয়ন্ত্রণ) (সংশোধন) অধ্যাদেশ, ২০২৬ (২০২৬ সনের ০৩ নং অধ্যাদেশ) — সংবিধানের ৯৩(২) অনুচ্ছেদ অনুযায়ী কার্যকরতা লোপ পেয়েছে

  Collected: 1 Jan 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

What changed

No corrections have been published yet.

Questions and answers

No questions yet. Be the first to ask.