TEXILA American University is working to increase its Guyanese student population of budding medical professionals with a long-term plan of providing medical education to 10,000 persons across the region.The institution, which was set up here in 2010, has received media attention in recent days following what the institution deemed “a shake up “ instigated by a known fraudster, who has published information on the university on several fake news sites.
Head of Operations of the university, Immanuel Prabalanathan, told the media on Wednesday afternoon that the entity has been following the rules regarding its operations here. “We go by the book, to do something which is a commitment, totally for Guyana and the Guyanese students,” he said. He noted that there is a healthy percentage of local students at Texila .
The university adds 150 students to its roster annually, of which 20% are from Guyana. “We would like to add more and we have been talking to local hospitals to add to the roster…Guyanese are a reasonably good percentage; we want to keep adding,” Prabalanathan said, noting that the students have put their trust in the university .

Speaking to the legitimacy of the institution, he said that the institution has all its documentation in order, including registration with the requisite bodies here. Those documents are available for anyone to peruse, he said. In addition, to concretise its operations, the university has established long-term arrangements with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the New Amsterdam hospital, where its students intern .
“Our long-term vision is we want to develop the school in Guyana where we can bring a lot of educational tools from other countries and students from overseas , considering the advantage that Guyana has with its location,” Askok Kumar , the company’s vice-president said.
“We are looking to grow as a international university in the region with a population of 10,000,” he said, noting that students have returned to their home countries such as Nigeria and are currently enrolled in the medical field there.
The university also praised the local immigration facilities, noting that the Ministry of Citizenship has greatly assisted the processing of students’ immigration permits to study here. The university said it takes less than two weeks to process relevant documentation for students.
On Monday, the university accused controversial figure Dennis Adonis of tarnishing its reputation and is threatening to sue him for $500M, after he had published a “defamatory” article about that university.
The Guyana Guardian online news site, of which Adonis is identified as the editor-in-chief, published the article under the headline “U.S. Dept of Education says medical degrees issued by Texila American University are not recognised.”
According to the article, written by Andrea Fernandes on Sunday last, the U.S. Department of Education was quick to point out that “Texila American University is more than likely a Degree Mill [an institution that issues bogus degrees], and [is] among the list of international so-called universities that are black- listed” by the Department.
The article further stated that Texila’s claim of being accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) is untrue.
“In a communication exchange with the Guyana Guardian, Mrs. Lorna M. Parkins, the Executive Director at the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP), revealed that Texila’s claims were not legitimate,” the article reportedly said.
But according to Texila’s Vice-President of International Operation, Ashok Kumar, no claim of the university being accredited by that body was ever made. If fact, he explained, the university is in the process of submitting its application to CAAM-HP -– a claim supported by evidence from the CAAM-HP website. And with Texila having Nigerian students enrolled, the Guyana Guardian article alleges, “The Nigerian Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, had told the Guyana Guardian last week that they were misled into believing that the ‘university’ was accredited.”
It stated that the Nigerian Government made this discovery after almost all of the returning students who went to Texila were failing the required local exams for clinical admission to their country’s healthcare system.