Tag Archives: Azad Moopen

Aster’s Azad Moopen: ‘Charity work led me to UAE, now I’m a billionaire’

Kalpakancheri (Malappuram District), KERALA / Dubai, U.A.E:

Indian recalls journey from being a fundraiser to rebuild a mosque to emerging a tycoon.

A young Azad Moopen at the inauguration of one of his clinics / Image Credit: Supplied

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Dr Azad Moopen came to the UAE in February 1987 to raise money for the renovation of a mosque in his hometown, Kalpakancheri in Malappuram district, Kerala.
  • Dr Moopen leased a two-bedroom apartment in Bur Dubai to start a clinic
  • In 2008, Dr Moopen invited a private equity firm to invest in the company and they valued Aster DM Healthcare at $100 million.
  • In 2010 and 2011, Dr Moopen was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and Padma Shri, respectively, by the Government of India.
  • Aster DM is listed at NSE and BSE

Dubai:

Azad Moopen came to Dubai 34 years ago to raise money for the renovation of a mosque in his hometown, Kalpakancheri, in the Malappuram district, Kerala. He needed Rs1 million then, or Dh250,000 as per the currency exchange rate in 1987. The plan was just to collect the funds and return home. He had no intention to settle in the UAE.

Destiny, however, had other plans for Moopen – a gold medallist in general medicine and a lecturer at the Calicut Medical College at the time. Looking back, Moopen said it was this noble intention that perhaps set the background for something big to happen in his life.

Fast forward to today, he is now a household name in the UAE. Just about everybody in the region knows him well as the multi-billion dollar businessman and developer of health-care facilities in the UAE and Asia-Pacific region. He is the chairman and managing director of Aster DM Healthcare, a conglomerate in the Middle East and India that Moopen founded in December 1987, just ten months after arriving in the UAE to raise funds for a mosque.

According to a report published in September 2018, he owned and managed 21 hospitals, 113 clinics and 216 pharmacies. The health-care company serves 50,000 patients a day in nine countries. In 2018, Aster treated 17 million patients across all its facilities. Of this these, 15 million patients were from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, while two million were from India.

In 2017, Forbes ranked him sixth on the ‘Top 100 Indian Leaders in UAE’ list and his total wealth was estimated at approximately $5.9 billion (Dh21.7 billion).

How it all started

“When I finished collecting money for the mosque reconstruction, my job was over in the UAE. It was time to return home, but when I went home, I was not happy. There was something pulling me back to this country as there was magic here,” said Moopen. “In June (1987), I came back on a visit to the UAE. I stayed with a friend in Ajman who was a doctor as well. There were plenty of opportunities for a doctor like me and I was raring to tap into some of them.”

Azad Moopen receives a Lifetime Achievement Award / Image Credit: Supplied

Moopen’s friend was setting up a clinic in Ajman and he invited him to join there as a physician. Back in the day, there were no post-graduate doctors practising in Ajman and Moopen, who was a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) and a Doctor of Medicine, with a a Diploma in treating Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (DTCD), was already highly qualified. In fact, his varied degrees made him quite a sought-after doctor in Ajman.

“But my friend bowled me a googlie, as we say in cricketing terms! He turned around one day and told me to start a clinic in Dubai. To be honest, I thought he did not like me and that’s why he was pushing me away to Dubai. But I took his advice and today, I believe he is my guardian angel. That moment, when I heeded his advise and came to Dubai, it was the turning point in my life. I know now he was a friend, he was a God-sent and he is ‘the person’ in my life.”

No matter how successful you become in life, you never forget the people who helped you along the way. And this, to me, has been the biggest reason for my success.

– Azad Moopen

In December 1987, Moopen leased a two-bedroom apartment in Bur Dubai close to the Port Rashid area. “Port Rashid was one of the main areas in Dubai where there were many ongoing activities. A lot of people worked here and I wanted to serve them.”

He said the consultation charges were between Dh10 and 15. Some people got reimbursement from their companies while others paid the bills from their pocket.

“The challenge, however, was collecting money from some blue collared workers who could not afford to pay even this amount. So every Tuesday we started offering free consultations for half a day. We also kept sample medicines which we gave to these workers.”

Within a year, the clinic started receiving 100 patients a day. There were just two doctors – Moopen and a gynaecologist.

Dr. Azad Moopen receiving an award from late Indian President APJ Kalam / Image Credit: Supplied

“I myself worked from 8 in the morning until mid-night. But it was becoming very congested and we needed to move to a bigger place,” he said. “I found a three-bedroom apartment in Al Rafa and we moved there. We hired two more doctors – both paediatricians. We were able to see more patients as a result.”

By that time in 1988, Moopen was getting a hang of running a health-care facility. “One of the things we discovered early on was that people came to us for consultation, but were picking up medicines from another pharmacy. So, we thought why not make this in-house? And that is how Al Rafa Pharmacy was born.”

Moopen said that in 2008, he had his real brush with success. “Until then, I was just doing my job of opening clinics, hospitals and pharmacies. I was not really counting or sitting down to see and evaluate the success of my business. In 2008, as part of our expansion plans, we invited a private equity firm to invest with us. They valued our company at $100 million and that reality hit me. We had grown and how! It was an emotional moment for me, reading the valuation report and made me think of how hard the company staff and me had worked to bring it that far,” he said.

Dr. Azad Moopen with his youngest daughter Zeba Moopen who is now a practicing doctor / Image Credit: Supplied

In 2012, a second private equity firm came on board and they valued Aster DM Healthcare at $400 million. “This means we had grown four times in four years. It was massive.”

Today, Aster DM is listed at the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the company’s total revenue in 2019 was fixed at a massive $1.4 billion.

Reason behind this phenomenal success

“Without batting an eyelid I will say that it is my staff, my people, my doctors who have made this company successful. I am blessed and lucky to have these people working for me for decades. Our doctor turnover at the consultant level is as low as five per cent. This means our doctors practically never leave us. And, because of this, our patients never leave us.

Azad Moopen with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar during the latter’s book launch. / Image Credit: Supplied

“No matter how successful you become in life, you never forget the people who helped you along the way. And this, to me, has been the biggest reason for my success. To give you an example, the other day, one of my CEOs brought me a staff member’s performance report. He wanted me to fire him as he was not performing well. When I saw the report I realised he was an old friend’s son. This friend, I remember, had loaned me Dh500 when I had come to the UAE for the first time.”

“As the memories flooded me, I simply refused to sign the sack letter. Instead, I called this young boy and his father and told them about the report. From my part, I have given this boy a second chance. I pray he will make use of the opportunity given to him.”

Challenges

Dr. Moopen during one of his philanthropic activities / Image Credit: Supplied

“There are always challenges in business. If you want your career graph to have a smooth ride, then you must not pick business as your profession. Success in business lies in finding your challenges and meeting them head-on,” said Moopen.

“For example, the UAE’s mandatory insurance has proved to be beneficial for the consumer, but for health-care providers like us, it is a challenge. People would come to us because of our credibility. Now, it has to do with the kind of insurance coverage they have.”

Philanthropy the way to life

Moopen has pledged to give 20 per cent of his wealth to charity. An off-shoot of this has been the ‘Aster Volunteers’ programme to help patients with free consultations, treatment and surgeries. More than 900,000 lives have been touched by the programme.

Dr. Moopen with his family in an earlier picture / Image Credit: Supplied

In 2010 and 2011, Moopen was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and Padma Shri, respectively, by the Government of India.

Dr. Azad Moopen awarded the coveted Padma Shri in 2011 / Image Credit: Supplied

“By God’s grace, I have everything in life. Name, fame, wealth, a great family. It is my duty and responsibility now to help others. When I started out, I was in the right place at the right time with the right people. I want others to be in my shoes. I am nearing retirement and my only dream now is to hand over my business to my team of professionals who, I believe, will do a better job than me.”

source: http://www.gulfnews.com / Gulf News / Home> UAE Success Stories> exclusive / by Anjana Kumar, Senior Reporter / January 15th, 2019

Aster CMI hospital and IISc. to launch artificial intelligence lab in Bengaluru

KERALA / KARNATAKA/ UAE :

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The lab has been set up to build cutting edge AI products in the healthcare domain, and bridge the gap between clinical medicine and technology by training healthcare professionals in AI

To understand disease patterns and improve treatment outcomes using artificial intelligence (AI) tools, Aster CMI Hospital has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) to launch an AI lab.

The lab has been set up to build cutting edge AI products in the healthcare domain, and bridge the gap between clinical medicine and technology by training healthcare professionals in AI.

The lab was launched by Azad Moopen, founder Chairman and Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare; Lokesh B., Consultant Neurology at the hospital; and Phaneendra K Yalavarthy, Professor of Medical Imaging, Department of Computational and Data Sciences, IISc.

Aster CMI will work with Prof. Phaneendra K Yalavarthy and his team on ‘Development of Deep Learning Methods for Automated Tracking and Segmentation of Nerves in Ultrasound Images’.  

Sriram Ganapathy, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IISc. has been collaborating on ‘Automatic Acute Stroke Symptom Detection Using Mobile Health Technologies’ and also on audio analytics in neurological disorders. Aster CMI believes that these initial projects have a direct impact on the current clinical practice in neurosciences.

At the launch, Dr Moopen said, “With the use of AI, doctors and medical providers will now be able to deliver more accurate diagnosis in the fastest possible time, which can aid the treatment journey. Also, AI would be a big leap towards predictive and proactive data analytics, which will improve preventive care recommendations for patients. We are glad to partner with IISc.”

Prof. Phaneendra K Yalavarthy, who has been instrumental in setting up the lab by providing the computational infrastructure and expertise, said, “AI-powered medical technologies have been rapidly evolving and have become powerful adjunct tools in clinical practice. The broad spectrum of digital medicine, especially to enable the 4P model of medicine (Predictive, Preventive, Personalised, and Participatory) involves natural collaboration between academic institutions and medical institutions.”

He said this artificial intelligence lab is a collaborative effort to develop these AI technologies in the hospital settings such that the translation to clinic will be seamless. “The initial focus of this collaborative lab will be in neurology and will later be expanded to other clinical specialities. We are thankful to Aster CMI for providing space to establish this lab in their hospital to enable co-development of some of these AI technologies for healthcare. This collaborative lab will enable the development of highly impactful research and technologies with a focus on translation to the bedside,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by The Hindu Bureau / Bengaluru – March 19th, 2022

Aster Hospitals to offer free surgery for 100 underprivileged children

Dubai, UAE / Kerala / Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

The ‘Second Life – Because Little Lives Matter’ initiative was launched in Bengaluru on November 15 by Dr. Nitish Shetty, Regional Director, Karnataka and Maharashtra Cluster; Farhan Yasin, Regional Director, Kerala and Oman Cluster; and Devanand K.T., Regional CEO, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Cluster

A 24X7 multi-lingual helpline has been set up to manage enquiries

To mark Children’s Day, Aster Hospitals in India launched the ‘Second Life – Because Little Lives Matter’ initiative.

The year-long initiative is aimed at supporting the medical treatment of disadvantaged children. The aim is to facilitate free paediatric surgery for at least 100 children below the age of 12 years.

Throught this initiative of Aster Volunteers Global CSR, the company wants to extend help to deserving children who are being treated across Aster Hospitals based in five States in India. This includes common childhood illnesses, such as appendicitis, intussusception, empyema and paediatric urology surgery, as well as complex clinical surgeries, including bone marrow transplant, liver transplant and heart surgery.

The initiative was launched in Bengaluru on November 15 by Dr. Nitish Shetty, Regional Director, Karnataka and Maharashtra Cluster; Farhan Yasin, Regional Director, Kerala and Oman Cluster; and Devanand K.T., Regional CEO, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Cluster.

The treatment will be funded either by Aster DM Foundation, philanthropists or NGOs.

The foundation has established the criteria to identify eligible cases for the program. Applications will be assessed on the socio-economic status, BPL category, medical outcome of the child prior to commencement of selection and subsequent treatment.

A 24X7 multi-lingual helpline (+91 9633620660) has been set up in Kozhikode in Kerala to manage enquiries.