Ajman: Thumbay Medicity welcomed His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, UAE to its Ajman campus on Friday. It marked the Minister’s first visit to one of the region’s largest integrated hubs for medical education, healthcare and research, and it set the tone for a closer conversation between the country’s trade agenda and the work happening inside Thumbay’s classrooms, laboratories and hospitals.
His Excellency was received by Dr. Thumbay Moideen, Founder President of Thumbay Group, and Mr. Akbar Moideen Thumbay, Vice President – Healthcare Division, along with the senior academic and clinical leadership team. The reception reflected the warmth and significance Thumbay attaches to a visit from a Minister whose portfolio sits at the heart of the UAE’s push to grow its non-oil economy.
During the visit, His Excellency toured various facilities across the campus, led by Gulf Medical University, the region’s biggest and No. 1 private medical university, along with Thumbay’s academic hospitals. He saw first-hand how teaching, patient care and research run side by side under one roof, and how the institution has grown from a single college in 1998 into a destination that today draws students from more than 111 countries.
The Minister then met with Dr. Thumbay Moideen at the President’s office inside Thumbay University Hospital. Their discussion centred on the role private healthcare and education institutions can play in strengthening the UAE’s knowledge economy, advancing medical research and life sciences, and supporting the nation’s ambition to position itself as a global destination for talent and investment. The visit closed with the presentation of a memento and a group photograph with the leadership team.
The timing carries weight. As Minister responsible for the country’s foreign trade and a driving force behind its Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements, His Excellency has helped shape the policies pulling international talent, partners and investment into the UAE. Thumbay’s ecosystem, which trains the region’s healthcare workforce and runs research programmes in precision medicine and population health, sits squarely within that vision. This visit really signals: a shared belief that healthcare, education and research are not separate from the trade and investment story, but central to it.