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 (PTI): Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani will be India's new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and his key task is set to be to implement the ambitious theaterisation plan that seeks to ensure tri-services synergy. 

He will succeed Gen Anil Chauhan whose tenure will come to an end on May 30. 

Gen Chauhan, a former Eastern Army Commander, took charge as the country's senior-most military commander in September 2022, over nine months after the first CDS, General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu. 

The government has appointed Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani (Retd) as the Chief of Defence Staff, who will also function as the secretary of the Department of Military Affairs, the defence ministry said on Saturday. 

Lt Gen Subramani is currently serving as the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat. 

Prior to that, he was the Vice Chief of the Army Staff from July 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025, and was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Command from March 2023 till June 2024. 

As Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen Subramani's primary task will be to implement the theaterisation model to bring in tri-services synergy by rolling out integrated military commands.

The officer is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy. He was commissioned into the eighth battalion of the Garhwal Rifles on December 14, 1985. 

Lt Gen Subramani is an alumnus of Joint Services Command Staff College, Bracknell (UK), and the National Defence College, New Delhi. He holds a Master of Arts degree from King's College London and an MPhil in defence studies from Madras University. 

In his illustrious career spanning over 40 years, Lt Gen Subramani has served across a wide spectrum of conflict and terrain profiles and tenanted a host of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. 

He commanded the 16 Garhwal Rifles in Counter-Insurgency operations in Assam as part of Operation Rhino, the 168 Infantry Brigade in Jammu and Kashmir, and the 17 Mountain Division in the Central Sector, all during a challenging operational environment. 

He also has the distinction of commanding two Corps, including the Indian Army's premier strike Corps on the Western Front.