Duration: 18 months. First 6 months: general posting in the morning half.  Retina dept: Free hands in all lasers, investigations and seeing patients. Once a week online combined class would be there where all-India Sankara fellows and faculties join. Otherwise it's mostly self-learning. But if you are putting efforts from your side, medical retina learning is always possible in Sankara because of the free hands in patients. Retina department consultants are approachable and friendly. Though cataract OT side can get difficult to work with at times, retina department is chill. You will have to go for camps once or twice a month in the first 1 year. Night duty once in a month in the first 6 months. You get cataract (SICS) from 3rd month. The numbers will depend upon your speed and how you pick up. Phaco is given in the last 3 months. 1 per OT turn or so.  Can expect to do around 600 to 1000 SICS and 20 to 50 phacos by the end of your fellowship. There is no single trainer to teach you all the steps systematically. For a person who hasn't had much cataract exposure in PG and wants to do cataract as a consultant along with medical retina, this would be a good stepping stone. Though they might need few more months of doing phaco from some charitable hospital or so to perfect it. But if your cataract hands are already good, there wouldn't be much benefit doing this fellowship because you might not be able to upgrade your phaco skills even after 1.5 years. Duty timings are usually from 9am to 6pm unless you have extra duty which is rare. Work life balance is good. They don't provide accommodation. But will give you temporary stay for few weeks till you find your own. Hospital has a decent canteen which provide vegetarian food.

I did VR from Sankara Coimbatore. We were taken one fellow at a time in my time. The routine is in the morning you come early and see general op and finish all your pts as fast as possible because when Prabhu sir (main VR surgeon) arrives, he'll finish all his private patients and then go straight to OT and start operating.  So if you haven't managed to clear a good chunk of OP by then, good luck, you would miss chances to operate since not only was Prabhu sir good at retinal surgery but also incredibly fast.  He usually sped through retinal surgeries because he was more fond of doing the phaco cases that came after... which is why he was happy to give you steps and cases for retina pts when you went to OT. (Btw sir's phacos were excellent.)  He never hogged retinal surgeries for himself, that way it was great working with him since I got to do many types of retinal cases and got good hands-on. Sir is cool headed so not a hard man to work with. There are no classes or academics and OP is left entirely to you so you have to see all cases and dispose. You can discuss those you have doubts about with Prabhu sir and retain them if needed for Sir to see after OT. Since sir is a fast surgeon, we usually finished our days in good time and got free by 6. Which is unheard of in most VR fellowships since they are always the last of fellows to leave the hospital. Among the Sankaras, their Guntur branch (Andhra Pradesh) is the best when it comes to hands-on and academics. Everything is structured there but it's very competitive to get in. They don't take everyone. Plus their working hours are long. Only Coimbatore where I worked did we finish by 6, nowhere else in any of their other branches could that happen. I heard that Sankara (in general) has increased fellow intake now, taking fellows every 6 months so I'm not sure how it's going now. When I did it, it was just one fellow with Prabhu sir for entire year and that was good in terms of exposure and hands-on you got.

18 months Phaco training included in the program. Based on your SICS skills, you get to start phaco training early, even as early as 2nd month (this means they give you SICS in the 1st month itself). They take on need basis, selection is by interview. You are trained by whoever is most experienced surgeon at the time- this can be a 3rd yr PG, but if they have passed out then it will be the seniormost fellow training you. Lots and lots of camp cases and consultants operate only on private cases so camp OT falls on the PGs and fellows to finish. You get to operate on all kinds of cataract. Clinical exposure of cornea cases is good, lots of diff ulcers- it can get tiresome after a while. Surgical hands-on: you will be posted in another Chennai centre of the same hospital 2-3 times a week where you will get hands-on for diff refractive procedures like trans-PRK, SMILE, LASIK, Femto LASIK- here Dr Nishant (Cornea head) trains you. You will also be started on keratoplasties in the early months- you start step wise- putting few corneal sutures, then suture the whole cornea, then you will do the trephining and all other steps etc  You get to observe lamellar surgeries, although they are less in number, but Nishant sir is proactive in helping you learn it in wet lab. Work is not very hectic, unless the PGs are less for any reason, work finishes by 7 pm max. Night duties are shared with PGs, Sunday camp duties usually not there for fellows unless the PGs are not available (eg if exam-going) Enucleation calls have to be attended by the Cornea fellow. Workwise it is a bit hectic but there is no toxicity.   Disclosure - this hospital also trains many short term trainees for phaco every month which include foreign candidates, but the fellow's surgical chances are never compromised for this reason. In fact, since it's the senior PG or Fellow who trains the short-termers, the hospital is eager that their long term fellows master cataract at the earliest, so your surgical chances start early.

2 years long. One of the few Cornea programs where you also train in phaco.  However phaco training is delayed till 2nd year- still, can expect average of 100 phacos. Clinical exposure is good- you see every textbook case. Work environment is not toxic but hectic. Surgical training done by senior fellows, but it's mostly self-learning- meaning you operate in numbers and fine-tune your skill along the way. Common cornea procedures/surgeries you get hands-on in: Total KP- 50, Optical PK -3 to 4, Glue BCL & tenonplasty - plenty.  Lamellar keratoplasty - Nil hands-on. You will have peripheral posting x 6 months. Night duties twice a month. Sunday duty once a month. Fellows don't have camp duties since DNBs go to camp. You get exposure to refractive procedures but only observing, no hands on.  Stipend = starts with 40,000. Increased by 10,000 every 6 months. Note- MMJ takes a caution deposit of 1 lakh (which you forfeit if you leave in between or do not complete the fellowship).

Duration= 30 months First 2 years of fellowship are in Hubli and the last 6 months you are posted as consultant in peripheral centres Stipend= Starts at 30k for first 6 months, with 10k increment every 6 months.. so 40k for second 6 months then 50k for third 6 months etc One of the good fellowship programs in MM Joshi for hands-on. Lot of hands on.. step wise. Starting from 2nd month of fellowship.. first you make ports, then you get core vitrectomy, eventually endolaser, nucleus drop fragmentation, endophthalmitis. Last few months you get to do RD full cases, PPV, ILM peeling much later on.. all depends on how fast a learner you are. If your tissue handling is good with phaco/ SICS, you will pick up faster. Lot of injections and lasers (you'll be fed up of it in 6-8 months). Top class equipment.. great teaching and teachers definitely... nice working hours - 9am to 8pm without nights unless you end up with endophthalmitis cases... Sundays are usually off. Nowadays lot of focus on research is gaining traction. Overall a great place to learn, great mentors.

Minto Hosp is the Ophthalmic Hospital of BMCRI (Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute) Duration= 18 months. The clinic days are pretty consistent, usually 9 AM to 4 PM in the glaucoma OPD. You'll see a huge variety of cases, honestly, it's like watching your textbook come to life. This means you'll get super confident with medical management of glaucoma. Seriously, you'll feel solid on that front. Lasers & Surgical Time When it comes to lasers, you'll get plenty of chances to do PIs (Peripheral Iridotomies) and even some Hyaloidotomies. Just a heads-up though, we didn't have an SLT/ALT machine available for training. On the surgical side, the main focus is SICS Trabeculectomy and Phaco-Trabeculectomy. What's cool is you can start getting hands-on pretty early, sometimes even in your first month, depending on your prior experience and how confident the consultants are in you. I personally started doing independent SICS Trabeculectomy around the 6-7 month mark. You'll likely get one or two SICS cases a week – again, it really depends on your progress and the consultant. A big thing to note is that we didn't get to do any independent phacoemulsification cases. You might observe shunts or tubes, but those aren't very common. We typically had two OT days a week, with each day having at least 2-3 trab /EUA with trab cases per consultant. We usually split these turns among the fellows. Learning & Academics The academic bit is largely self-driven. Don't expect a ton of formal lectures or structured classes. Most of your learning will happen during one-on-one discussions with consultants in clinic or during surgery. Presenting cases to them was definitely where a lot of the learning happened. One of the best parts is that the work-life balance is really good. You'll be on a general duty rotation, maybe once or twice a month, depending on how many total fellows (all departments) are around. They recently started letting fellows operate or assist on duty cases like corneal tears if something comes up, which is a nice bonus. The stipend was around ₹75,000 a month when I was there. The fellowship is RGUHS accredited. You'll have an entrance exam (MCQs), usually announced in August. And there's an exit exam, both practical and theory, which is common for all RGUHS fellows. If you're looking to become incredibly strong in medical glaucoma management and a pro at trabeculectomy surgery, this program is fantastic. It's especially a great fit if you're okay with less hands-on experience in independent phaco, advanced lasers like SLT/ALT or MIGS.

Minto Eye Hospital is the Ophthalmic Hospital of BMCRI (Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute) - 18 months course. - ⁠Affiliated to RGUHS, so there is an entrance and exit exam. - ⁠Exposure to vast variety of Cornea cases in OPD. - ⁠Good number of TPK hands on from the beginning and few Optical keratoplasties - ⁠Lamellar cases- no hands-on, can assist and observe. - ⁠Slim chances in Refractive surgeries  - ⁠Cataract- 1 SICS case once in a week or 2 weeks in the last 6-7 months . No hands on with Phaco.  - ⁠Work hours are relaxed with ample free time and holidays as per any government institution . - ⁠Academics- no formal theory classes- more of self learning. Good place for self motivated people. The admission to the course is through an entrance exam with MCQs followed by interview.  The release of applications have to be enquired from the hospital itself by calling the College (BMCRI). They also release a notification in newspapers. Intake is once a year, usually around June-August.

(Retina Institute of Karnataka is part of Eye Foundation.) 6 months duration. You get all retinal lasers and intravit injections. Selection by interview, intake is in June and Dec every year. OP good number of clinical cases seen, timings 9am- 6.30pm No call duties, no Sunday duties. There is an online class every Wed. Stipend= 25,000/ month. Good training, you can do all medical retina procedures independently by the time you finish. Good option to consider if you are looking to do more than 2 months training but not long duration like the 18 months Medical Retina fellowships.

( Retina Institute of Karnataka is part of Eye Foundation Hospital) 2 yrs long. Hands-on is ok, but the numbers you get is lesser compared to other places. There is alternate day OT and you get mostly steps in surgeries till the end. Good range of retina cases seen in op. Stipend 35k. Online monthly classes are there in collaboration with other Eye Foundation branches. Has exit exam since it's under RGUHS.

Duration of fellowship - 3 years (2 yrs fellowship & 1 yr consultancy as of 2026) Selection- exam and interview both. Fellow intake is on need basis. Fellows per session- varies from 2 to 8 as per need of the dept. Phaco training included, cornea fellows share cataract OT with other fellows. Phaco start at 1.5 years into fellowship. Cornea surgeries are given from the start. We start with pterygium and tear repairs and TPKs from first year itself. It starts with training first followed by independent surgeries based on your skill set. Clinical case exposure- you see every textbook case and even more. Work- hectic during winters. Both senior consultants and senior fellows train you. A fellow typically gets around 350-550 phacos by the time they finish. By the end of the fellowship, 1-2 lamellar surgeries are given and sometimes even more also. You get to operate advanced cataract cases as well (small pupil, PXF, vitrectomy etc) No hands-on given for iris claw insertions though (done by IOL fellows). No peripheral postings. Night calls are along with DNBs. Very rarely DNBs call at night if at all some confusion, otherwise we never usually get called for any emergency patient. Academics- classes are thrice a week but many things are subject to self-learning.  In Cornea we have morning 7.30 am rounds for designated doctors for 4 days and on the rest 2 days there is class at 7.30am. Penalty is if we leave fellowship in the middle, we have to pay 2 lacs.  After joining, you have the first month to decide if you will stay or not. If you leave in 1st month, you are not charged any fine. But if you decide to quit anytime after the 1st month, the penalty of 2 lacs is in effect. Caution deposit also- it is 1st month salary + 3k per month till end of fellowship.

Duration 2 yrs Selection= MCQ exam+ interview No exit exam There is internal exam every 3 months for in-house fellows- only theory, no practical. Stipend 40k 1 fellow taken every 6 months You get at least 100 phacos, more usually. Phaco training starts from 1st month itself, 1-2 cases per week, you are taught supracapsular phaco technique (cataract prolapsed out of bag and emulsified in AC). There's a 1 month peripheral posting at their Vellore branch where you do much more phaco cases (2 nos/day) 1st 3 months at the main Chennai hospital is mostly OP and weekly OT duties (blocking pts, prepping pre-op files etc) After 3 months, you are given corneal surgeries, for keratoplasties (KPs) they start with steps in graft suturing You get around 25-30 KPs (both therapeutic & optical), some get even 50. Also get hands-on for ocular surface procedures, AMG, SLET etc  After 8-9 months, based on your skill, you get to do independent KPs. Lamellar surgeries- the main centre does not do many DALK, it's mostly CAIRS. No DSEK/ DMEK either, only PDEK. You will get steps in lamellar surgeries in last 6 months. Once you learn phaco, your next posting at the Vellore branch will teach you how to do phaco in bag so you can use that opportunity to wean out of the supracapsular technique.. but then back at the main centre, it's on you to perfect it.. fellows may tend to stick to the supracapsular technique. You also get advanced cataract cases, plus training for secondary IOLs, glued IOLs and vitrectomy (both ant and post). Refrac training also +  You get hands-on for SMILE, PRK, femtoLASIK Work timings 8.30 - 6 pm Initial 3-6 months you will have to come early for OT duty, around 7 am  Evening duties (OP till 8 pm) once per month, same for night duties and Sunday duties  Academics- classes happen based on how light OP is, usually includes fellows + PGs No admission fees. No bond money to be paid if you quit midway.

Duration 18 months Selection- MCQ exam + interview  No exit exam They take 2-3 fellows per session Stipend 30k first 6 months, 40k next 6 months, 50k last 6 months.  Phaco training included. They start surgeries usually after 3-4 months, you get lots of trabs- plain and combined. You also do cataracts, if you're good in SICS, your phaco training starts early. You get lots of lasers, also get MIGS towards the end of fellowship- they give you few cases to operate independently as well. They also give you steps in AGV surgeries as well. OP- you see wide variety of cases, very hectic. Academics- regular classes+ Plus fellows have to attend DNB PGs classes also (8 am daily). Work timings 8-6 pm. There are 6-8 weeks of peripheral posting where also you get cataracts and trabs to operate. Monthly Sunday duties, enucleation calls also (required of all specialty fellows, not just Cornea fellows).