Azad Moopen Azad Moopen, a doctor and former lecturer at the Calicut Medical College, visited the UAE in 1987 to raise funds for the renovation of a mosque in his hometown of Kalpakanchery in Kerala. Recognising that the healthcare sector had yet to boom in the UAE, he decided to set up his own medical practice out of a two-bedroom apartment in Bur Dubai near Port Rashid. The Aster DM Healthcare group that he founded – which includes three brands: Aster, Medcare and Access – has since scaled exponentially to 388 medical establishments in eight countries, with a combined workforce of around 20,000 employees and revenues of $1.07bn in 2018-2019. In February, the company also received approvals to obtain 100 per cent ownership of its business within Dubai. Related Stories Dubai-based Aster expands into the Caribbean with Medcity project in Cayman Islands The UAE’s successful handling of the pandemic paves the way for the future Aster DM Healthcare launches 50-bed critical care facility in Dubai Covid-19: 88 ICU nurses from India arrive in the UAE to assist efforts Healthcare group Aster gets approval for 100% ownership of its business in Dubai Exclusive: Aster DM Healthcare’s Alisha Moopen on where the UAE-based firm is headed You might also like Sunil John Dr. Thumbay Moideen Vidya Chhabria Mohan Valrani K. Rajaram Dr. Adnan Chilwan Sanjiv Kakkar Ram Kumar Thota Raghu Malhotra Sunil Kaushal Atif Rahman Amit Jain Rishi Kapoor Vasu Shroff Anil Pillai Bal Krishen Rohit and Sharad Bachani Raju Ramesh and Sunil Paul Ayesha Depala John Paul Joy Alukkas Geet Bhalla and Digvijay Pratap Snehal and Sunita Hadani Nisha Jagtiani Kunal Kapoor Dino Varkey Ashish Panjabi Adeeb Ahamed Yogesh Mehta Yusuff Ali M.A. Ravi Pillai Micky Jagtiani Sunny Varkey Sunil Vaswani Shamsheer Vayalil Firoz Merchant Rajen Kilachand Tony Jashanmal Paras Shahdadpuri Joy Alukkas Dr. Zulekha Daud Dhananjay Datar Rizwan Sajan PNC Menon Sima Ved Shaji Ul Mulk Ramesh Prabhakar L.T. Pagarani Ram Buxani Surender Kandhari Sohan Roy Shyam Bhatia