Dubai: based diversified global conglomerate Thumbay Group has become the first business group in the history of the prestigious Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Awards (SKEA) to win four awards in a single assessment cycle.

At the 16th Sheikh Khalifah Excellence Awards (SKEA) ceremony held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, at the at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on 21st February 2018, the awards were presented by H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, to Dr. Thumbay Moideen, the Founder President of Thumbay Group.

The awards were won by the following entities owned by Thumbay Group

Gulf Medical University, Ajman – Gold Award
Thumbay Hospital, Dubai – Silver Award
Thumbay Hospital, Ajman – Silver Award
Thumbay Hospital, Fujairah – Silver Award

Dr. Thumbay Moideen said that Thumbay Group was proud to be honored at SKEA. “It is a matter of great pride that we have been honored at the prestigious SKEA awards, not once, but with four awards won by our entities in education and healthcare. I thank the SKEA jury for recognizing our efforts and our commitment to quality.

I congratulate my team and I also take this opportunity to thank our customers for the trust they’ve invested in us, during the course of our two decade long journey. We have always striven to set new standards in education and healthcare, two of our core sectors, and ingrained innovation as the underlying function of our operations across all 20 sectors of business that we are involved in.”

Mr. Akbar Moideen Thumbay, the Vice President of Thumbay Group’s Healthcare Division said that the multiple recognitions for the healthcare division recognized not only the high quality of care that is received by patients at Thumbay Hospitals, but “It also emphasizes the fact that our high standards of patient care and service delivery pervade all the departments in all our hospitals.”  He further said, “We take tremendous pride in the fact that people from over 175 countries place their trust in our hospitals in the UAE and Hyderabad-India.”

The SKEA awards are given to both government and private companies and organizations that set and follow best all round business practices in various fields, every year.

About Thumbay Group

Founded by Dr. Thumbay Moideen in 1998, Thumbay Group is a diversified international business conglomerate with operations across 20 different verticals including Education, Healthcare, Medical Research, Diagnostics, Retail Pharmacy, Health Communications, Retail Opticals, Wellness, Nutrition Stores, Hospitality, Real Estate, Publishing, Technology, Media, Events, Medical Tourism, Trading and Marketing & Distribution. Headquartered in Dubai, the group presently employs around 5000 people, which is projected to increase to around 25,000 by the year 2022, with the completion of ongoing and upcoming projects.

Currently, Thumbay Group is focusing on its strategic long-term plans which will see the group scale its businesses almost ten times and expand its operations globally.

The Gulf Medical University (GMU), Ajman is a leading private medical university of the Middle East region, attracting students from over 80 nationalities and employing staff from 25 different countries. The Thumbay network of academic hospitals is now the largest network of private academic hospitals in the Middle East, treating patients from around 175 nationalities.

The hospitals, presently located at Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah and Fujairah in the UAE and in Hyderabad – India, are also among the biggest JCI-accredited private academic hospital networks in the region. Thumbay Group’s healthcare division also operates a chain of family clinics (Thumbay Clinic) and multispecialty day care hospitals (Thumbay Hospital Day Care) in the UAE as well as diagnostic labs (Thumbay Labs) and pharmacies (Thumbay Pharmacy) in the UAE and India.

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New Delhi: The Income Tax (I-T) Department has sent a notice to actor and director Prithviraj Sukumaran asking for more details about the money he earned from some films he co-produced. The notice was reportedly served during the last week of March by the I-T office in Kochi. He has been asked to respond by the end of April.

The department is seeking clarification on the income from a few movies Prithviraj was involved in as a co-producer. This comes at a time when the actor has been receiving criticism from right-wing groups over what seemed to be references to the 2002 Gujarat riots in his latest film L2: Empuraan, starring Mohanlal, which released on March 27.

On April 4, 2025, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at the offices of Gokulam Gopalan, a Kerala-based businessman and one of the producers of L2: Empuraan, along with a few others. These searches were part of an investigation into alleged violations of foreign exchange rules.

The I-T notice to Prithviraj is believed to be linked to an ongoing investigation that began in December 2022 into suspected tax evasion within the Malayalam film industry.

At the time, tax officials had raided the homes and offices of several producers, including Antony Perumbavoor, Anto Joseph, and Listin Stephen, over concerns about unreported income, cash deals, and overseas investments. Prithviraj’s premises were also searched during that operation.