Doctor Anywhere lays off 8% of workforce across Singapore and Southeast Asia in restructuring push

Doctor Anywhere has laid off 8.1% of its workforce across Southeast Asia. 

The telehealth start-up, headquartered in Singapore, announced the job cuts earlier this month through an internal email, reported the Business Times. 

The move is part of Doctor Anywhere's restructuring efforts to "become more self-sustainable as a company", wrote founder and CEO Lim Wai Mun.

Doctor Anywhere joins the likes of local companies such as fashion retailer Love, Bonito and logistics company Ninja Van which implemented layoffs this year owing to a global economic slowdown.

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In response to AsiaOne's queries, Doctor Anywhere said on Friday (Dec 13) that "less than 20% of (the roles) impacted are from Singapore".

The company said that it "streamlined operations and restructured our tech team into leaner, more agile units", resulting in some roles being made redundant.

No medical doctors or healthcare professionals were affected by these changes, it added.

The company, which was founded in 2017, expanded its workforce to over 600 employees in 2022, with operations across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Affected employees to receive 'good support'

Lim apologised to the affected employees in his email, and promised that they would receive "good support" through the transitional period.

This includes "enhanced severance benefits that exceed statutory requirements, including severance pay based on tenure, notice period pay, leave encashment, and extended healthcare coverage where applicable", said Doctor Anywhere.

Immigration assistance will also be offered where necessary.

Doctor Anywhere said it is also providing alternative internal job matching as it continues to hire for other functions.

According to The Business Times, Doctor Anywhere saw an operating loss of $31.1 million for the financial year of 2023, an improvement of 17% year on year.

In December 2023, the company announced that it received an additional US$40.8 million (S$55 million) in Series C1 extension round funding to expand into secondary healthcare.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com