How to Start an Ayurvedic Clinic After BAMS: A Practical Checklist

Opening your own clinic is the moment many BAMS doctors work towards for years. It is also the moment most of the practical questions appear at once — registration, rent, furniture, medicines, case papers, fees, and how to get the first patients through the door.

This checklist walks through the whole journey in the order you will actually face it. Rules differ from state to state, so treat the registration section as a list of things to check locally, not as legal advice.

1. Get your registrations in order

• Registration with your State Board / Council of Indian Medicine — your licence to practise. Keep the certificate displayed in the clinic.
• Clinic registration under your state's clinical establishments rules, where they apply.
• Local municipal licence (shop and establishment or trade licence, depending on your city).
• Bio-medical waste — if your clinic generates any (needles, dressings, Panchakarma waste), tie up with an authorised disposal agency.
• GST — consultations are usually exempt, but medicine sales may not be. Ask a CA before you start selling medicines from the clinic.

Tip: keep scanned copies of every certificate in one folder. You will need them again for bank accounts, insurance and any Panchakarma tie-ups.

2. Choose the location carefully

• Ground floor or lift access — many patients are elderly or in pain.
• Close to where your patients live, not just where rent is cheap.
• Space for a waiting area, a consultation room and, if you plan Panchakarma, at least one therapy room with water and drainage.
• Visible signage. A clear board with "Ayurvedic Clinic", your name and BAMS brings in walk-ins for years.

3. Set up the consultation room

• Examination table, BP apparatus, weighing scale, thermometer, pulse oximeter and a glucometer
• Good light for Jihva and Netra examination
• A small medicine cupboard and a clean area for dispensing
• A computer, tablet or phone for records — and a printer if you want printed prescriptions on your letterhead

4. Decide your treatment model

Most new Ayurvedic clinics start with one of three models, and many grow into the third:

1. OPD only — consultation and prescription; medicines bought outside.
2. OPD + in-house pharmacy — you dispense classical and proprietary medicines yourself.
3. OPD + pharmacy + Panchakarma — therapy rooms, therapists and multi-day treatment plans.

Start with what you can run well. A small, well-run Panchakarma room is better than three empty ones.

5. Plan your pharmacy (if you dispense)

• Start with the 40–60 formulations you prescribe most often.
• Track batch and expiry from day one — expired stock is lost money.
• Keep a purchase register for every supplier bill.
• Know which medicines are running low before the patient is in front of you.

Software helps here more than anywhere else: entering stock from a photo of the supplier bill, and seeing what is on the shelf while you write the prescription, saves hours every month. See how Ayurvedic clinic management software handles pharmacy and billing.

6. Get your case paper right from the first patient

Your first patients become your follow-up patients. A complete case paper from day one is what lets you treat them well on the second, fifth and tenth visit. At minimum, record:

• Allergies — at the top, where nobody can miss them
• Vitals, including blood sugar
• Complaints with duration, and aggravating and relieving factors
• Mala, Mutra, Sweda and Nidra
• Ashtavidha Pariksha, Prakriti, Agni and Koshtha
• Dosha, Dushya, Samprapti and the Ayurvedic diagnosis
• Each medicine with dose, timing and Anupana, plus Pathya–Apathya

We have written a full section-by-section guide: Ayurvedic case paper format.

7. Set your fees and billing

• Fix a clear consultation fee and a follow-up fee (many clinics charge less for a follow-up within 7–15 days).
• Price Panchakarma as packages — for example a 7-day course — not only per session.
• Always give a printed bill. It builds trust and keeps your accounts clean.
• If you register for GST, make sure each bill shows the right rate per item.

8. Build a follow-up system

New clinics lose most patients not at the first visit but at the second. Patients feel better, forget the date, and do not come back.

• Write the next follow-up date on every prescription.
• Keep a list of "follow-ups due today" and call or message those patients.
• Make old records easy to find — by name, OPD number or mobile number — so the follow-up starts where you left off.

9. Get your first patients

• Google Business Profile — create it on day one, add photos, timings and your phone number, and ask happy patients for reviews.
• Free health camps in your area — Prakriti assessment, BP and sugar checks.
• WhatsApp — share simple seasonal tips (Ritucharya) with your patients' consent.
• Local doctors and chemists — introduce yourself; many refer chronic patients looking for Ayurvedic care.
• Your own case papers — a neatly printed prescription on your letterhead is quiet marketing every patient carries home.

10. Common mistakes in the first year

1. Spending too much on interiors and too little on equipment and stock.
2. Writing short, incomplete case papers "because the OPD is busy".
3. No follow-up system — patients drift away after one visit.
4. Stocking too many medicines that expire on the shelf.
5. Starting Panchakarma without written consent and a clear package price.

How AyurHealthPlus helps a new clinic

AyurHealthPlus is built for exactly this stage — one doctor, a small team, and a clinic that needs to look professional from the first patient.

• Case papers by voice. Talk to the patient in Hindi, Marathi or English and the AI history taking fills the case paper for you to check and save.
• Prescriptions on your letterhead with Anupana and Pathya–Apathya — see Ayurvedic prescription software.
• Every patient on one record — search by mobile number and see every past visit.
• Pharmacy — scan a supplier bill into stock and see your clinic stock while prescribing.
• Panchakarma plans, sessions and consent — see Panchakarma management software.
• Billing, including GST bills when you need them.

It runs in a browser on a phone, tablet or computer — nothing to install.

Start your clinic the organised way

Start the 1-month trial, set up your letterhead, and take your first patients' case histories by voice from day one. See the plans or start from the homepage.