Physiotherapist salary in Malaysia

What a new government physiotherapist earns

A newly appointed rehabilitation officer earns RM2,580 basic plus RM900 in fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur: RM3,480 a month.

Grade U9, from the SPA service scheme and the JPA allowance circular. The same figures apply to the physiotherapy and occupational therapy streams.

Sources: SPA service scheme; JPA Pekeliling Perkhidmatan 1/2024, Lampiran E (allowance tables). BISH is RM250 in Kawasan B and RM150 elsewhere. Totals computed by Foundific.

• Outside the big cities: BISH falls to RM250 in Kawasan B and RM150 elsewhere, so fixed pay is RM3,430 or RM3,330.
• A year at the start: RM3,480 × 12 = RM41,760, before any shift or on-call payments.
• No critical service incentive: the JPA circular lists Pegawai Perubatan, Jururawat and Penolong Pegawai Perubatan among the critical schemes, but not Pegawai Pemulihan Perubatan.

How pay grows on the government scale

Grade 9 pay rises RM225 a year, from RM2,580 at the start up to RM11,110. Promotion to U10 and above moves an officer onto a higher range.

Minimum and maximum monthly basic salary for each SSPA grade, 2026.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A: SSPA salary codes and minimum-maximum salaries (page A-1). Basic salary only.

• By increments alone: at RM225 a year, about 38 yearly increments reach RM11,110 from RM2,580.
• Promotion grades: U10 starts at RM3,840 and U12 to U14 at RM5,530 to RM6,560.

Compared with Malaysian pay overall

A new government physiotherapist's fixed pay, RM3,480, is below the health and social work industry median of RM4,698, which covers hospital staff of all grades and years.

• Health industry median covers hospitals, clinics and social work agencies, from attendants to specialists.
• Measures differ: DOSM figures cover all paid employees and all ages. The government figure is one fixed pay point. Use them for scale, not as a direct comparison.

Private hospitals and rehabilitation clinics

DOSM publishes no figure for physiotherapists or occupational therapists as single jobs. The health and social work industry median is RM4,698 and the median for all professionals is RM5,821.

• DOSM publishes salaries by industry, state and skill level, but not by job title.
• Industrial Court awards name too few therapists to form a job family, so no court figure is published here.
• The pay scale above applies to government posts. Private hospitals, rehabilitation centres and sports clinics set their own pay.
• Private surveys and job ads use different measures and samples, so their figures are not mixed into the tables here.

Data sources and coverage

Government pay for physiotherapists and occupational therapists is exact. Private-sector context rests on the health industry and professional-group medians.

• Compared with Singapore: Singapore's MOM publishes median pay by job title, age and industry. Malaysia publishes exact government pay scales but no market-wide figure by job.
• What a payslip shows is basic plus allowances plus any shift, on-call or overtime pay, so it can be higher than the fixed figures here.

Is physiotherapy affected by AI?

The International Labour Organization rates physiotherapists Minimal for exposure to generative AI. Its scores cover the job worldwide, so they apply in Malaysia too.

• Average task score 0.28 out of 1, across 7 main tasks.
• Most exposed task: Recording information on patients' health status and responses to treatment in medical records-keeping systems, and sharing information with other health professionals as required to ensure continuing and comprehensive care (0.56).
• Least exposed task: Administering muscle, nerve, joint functional ability and other tests to identify and assess physical problems of patients (0.17). The full breakdown is on our Singapore guide.
• What exposure measures: how much of the work AI could do or speed up. It does not measure job cuts.

What the pay figures include

Every figure is monthly basic pay or fixed allowances, before deductions.

Related guides

Sources