FAQ

Thumbay Group is one of the UAE’s largest private healthcare and education organizations. It began in 1997 with the founding of the country’s first private medical college, which grew into Gulf Medical University, and has since expanded into a diversified group spanning hospitals, diagnostics, pharmacy, research and other sectors.

What sets the group apart is how tightly its parts connect. Students at Gulf Medical University train inside the group’s own teaching hospitals. Research carried out in its labs feeds back into patient care. That academic health system model, the first of its kind in the region’s private sector, is the engine behind almost everything Thumbay does. The group works under a single guiding idea, Growth through Innovation, and has built its reputation on a long list of regional firsts.

Thumbay Group was founded and is led by Dr. Thumbay Moideen, who serves as Founder President. Mr. Akbar Moideen Thumbay leads the group’s Healthcare Division as Vice President.

Dr. Thumbay Moideen is a third-generation entrepreneur whose family roots trace back to Karnataka, India. His path into the UAE began with a chance meeting in 1997 with a member of Ajman’s ruling family, who was looking for ideas to grow the emirate’s economy. Moideen proposed a medical academic institution. Within a year, Gulf Medical University opened its doors, and the rest of the group grew outward from there. He remains the only Indian to own and operate a private medical university of this scale outside India.

Thumbay Medicity is a 25-acre integrated hub for medical education, healthcare and research in Al Jurf, Ajman, launched in 2019. It houses the 350-bed Thumbay University Hospital, the largest private academic hospital in the region, alongside Thumbay Dental Hospital and Thumbay Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital.

Together, these hospitals form the Gulf Medical University Academic Health System, the first private-sector model of its kind in the region. Beyond the Medicity, the group runs Thumbay hospitals in Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah, plus a wider network of clinics, diagnostic centres and pharmacies. The combined network treats patients from more than 175 countries, with staff representing over 30 nationalities and care delivered in roughly 50 languages.