Texila American University in massive expansion drive in Guyana

– building US$12M Medical Campus at Providence; Specialty Hospital in pipeline

BY TAJERAM MOHABAIR

With a vision to establish itself as the best medical school in the Caribbean, the Texila American University which established operations in Guyana in 2010, will soon be building a state-of-the-art campus at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Speaking to Guyana Times International via Skype from the university’s offices in New Jersey, USA, Director for International Operations Ashok Kumar said the design for the building has been completed and is in the process of being approved.

He is hoping that the process will be completed within three months, pointing out that construction will commence soon after.

Construction of the university will be done in two phases—the actual construction of the building, followed by technical work on the science facilities.

According to Kumar, when completed, the new US$12 million campus, outfitted with all modern facilities, will have the capacity to accommodate 1000 students from across the world.

The Providence facility will complement and prevent overcrowding at the Goedverwagting, Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara campus.

The East Coast Demerara campus currently has over 350 students from 35 countries, and would be matriculating another 120 in the new academic year.

The majority of the students are from India and African countries, with some from the US and Canada.

Hospital

On completion of the Providence project, the university will embark on another physical infrastructure programme — the construction of a hospital for students to do their clinical rotations.

Currently, some students at the university do their clinical rotations at the Georgetown Public Hospital and others at hospitals in the US and the Philippines.

According to Kumar, the hospital which is expected to be built in the next three to five years will be a general hospital at first, but would gradually move to become a specialty hospital. This, he said would be in keeping with Government’s drive to make Guyana a medical tourism destination.

The Texila American University is owned by a group of businessmen based in Hong Kong, of whom Saju Bhaskar, an Indian national, is one of the majority shareholders.

Programmes offered

Some of the programmes offered by the university include the Doctor of Medicine Programme (MD) (four years for students with 90 college level credits), the Pre-med Programme + MD Programmes (in a total of 5.5 years for high school graduates), the Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (four years) and the RN-BSN (two years) Advanced Standing Nursing Programmes.

 Kumar also pointed out that students studying the MD Programme can do their last two years of clinical rotations in the wide network of hospitals with reputed physicians in the US and The Philippines.

 The hospitals in the US include DeKalb Medical, Atlanta and the Louis A Weiss Memorial Hospital and Masonic Medical Centre, Chicago.

 Kumar also noted that students from other reputable universities, for example the University of the West Indies (UWI), who wish to do their clinical rotations in the US can register and become accredited to do so at any of the university’s network of hospitals there.

 He disclosed too that the university’s tuition fees are designed to attract local students, explaining that the cost for foreign students to study for the medical or nursing degree programmes ranges from US$40,000 to US$45,000, while local students pay half the amount.

This offer, the Operations Manager said, is part of the university’s corporate social responsibility to Guyana, contending that sums paid by foreign students, help to subsidise the tuition cost for local students.