It is a paid fellowship.  I (reviewer) had selected "screening and management" category in their main campus under Dr. Anand Vinekar.  There are other categories like screening alone, machine diagnostics alone (mainly for health workers), screening+ machine diagnostics+ treatment.  The ROP fellow will travel with the KIDROP team to different districts in Karnataka for four days a week.  The remaining two days, the fellow will stay back in the department for lasers.  Sundays are holidays. The KIDROP team technicians are very knowledgeable. They will teach you the screening part.  There would be one retina fellow who would be doing their ROP posting along with you.  The screening cases will be divided between them and you. Indirect ophthalmoscope is provided to you. But you should carry your own 20D lens. There would be around atleast 5 to 10 babies for screening daily. You will get atleast 2 lasers per laser day.  The fee is 15,000 per week. You may mention how many weeks you might need in your mail. Most of the candidates opt for 2 weeks. Selection process is by mailing them with your CV. The contact details are provided in their website. Stay is not provided by the hospital. However the contacts for the accommodation places are given. It is important that you do the screening and management in your practice regularly, starting soon after your short term fellowship.

Duration- 24 months  Selection- by exam followed by interview  They take 2-3 fellow every 6 months Stipend- 55k 1st month is orientation period where you shadow an assigned fellow (of any specialty) in OP and OT. Thereafter you are posted with a cornea consultant every month from 2nd month onwards. No cataract surgeries given in main SN hospital. You have once weekly posting in JCOC (their camp hospital) that you are given cataracts  And also 1 full month JCOC posting. SICS given initially- usually 1 case/week Phaco given only in the last month- only 30 phacos  No training in difficult cataracts or managing complications.   In Cornea, they give you steps initially for all corneal surgeries that are done in the dept. They see a wide variety of cornea and ocular surface cases so exposure is very good. Hectic work environment  Consultants are approachable and eager to teach. Lamellar case hands-on is limited, all fellows may not get. Refractive procedures are done in dept and you work up patients and can train in procedures in wet lab but they do not give hands-on on patients to fellows. Academics- regular classes+ Once a week night duty (emergency/ enucleation call) and Sunday duties once a month. In the last 6 months of fellowship you become an SR and start seeing OP independently and posting cases and you get to fine-tune yr surgical skills in this time. You are an independent corneal surgeon by the time you exit from fellowship. Phaco skills will require further fine-tuning after fellowship, however.

Duration 1.5 yrs 6 months of Gen Ophthal posting+ 12 months of Glaucoma posting Selection- exam + interview Exit exam + 1 fellow taken every 6 months Stipend 40k They take 2 months salary of 80k as caution deposit- (40k taken in 1st month, 20k taken each in 2nd and 3rd months)- this is returned at the end of fellowship  At the start, you are given mostly SICS after 1st month  They start you on trabs also within first few months, mostly SICS trabs.. phaco trabs come later. You get to do around 80-100 trabs. Phaco training given in last 6 months, you get approx 100 phacos.. they may also give you advanced cataract cases based on your proficiency. You are trained to manage complications when you are doing SICS. No topical phacos given. MIGS and GDD exposure+ but you don't get hands-on for MIGS May get a few cases of GDDs. Work timings 8-6 pm On call- you have 2-3 rotations of weekly call in the first 6 months.. and it's literally for 1 whole week (Sun- Sat).. u start Sunday duty at 8 pm do till 8am Monday then off for the day to come back again at 8pm Monday to do call till 8 am Tuesday and so on.. till Saturday. Sunday OP duties (8-1), Sunday camp duties + No admission fees.

Duration 2 yrs Selection- exam + interview Exit exam + 1 fellow taken every 6 months Stipend 40k They take 2 months salary of 80k as caution deposit- (40k taken in 1st month, 20k taken each in 2nd and 3rd months)- this is returned at the end of fellowship  No cataract training  They start you on medical retina work in the initial months (B scans, FFA, lasers, intravit injections etc) You are mostly trained by senior fellows, and they train you to manage OP cases as well as guide you in surgical learning. Consultants are busy seeing private patients. Initially you sit with senior fellows and observe pts in OP, fellows are not allowed to dispose them on their own. They start you on retinal surgeries after around 3 months, you get steps mostly. Independent cases are not commonly given, however it may depend on your proficiency. ROP exposure is less.. initially you observe how it is done, then you are sent to screen babies independently once they are confident in your skills. No lasers given.   By the end of fellowship, you're familiar with retinal surgeries but not enough to be independent.. also the surgery numbers that fellows get are less compared to other institutes like Aravind.

Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery, Ocular Oncology & Cataract Fellowship Duration- 2+1 year program (2 year fellowship + 1 year consultancy) Selection is by MCQ + interview in June and December. Stipend was 50k, 60k and 80k for 1st, 2nd and 3rd yr respectively (as of 2025, it was 3 year fellowship so this was the stipend). Now since Consultancy has been incorporated, salary may change. 1 month observation period is given so that fellows can decide if they can continue before that they can exit freely.  After that there is a bond of 2 lacs for quitting. Surgeries offered - DCR, DCT, Evisceration, Entropion, ectropion, excision biopsy, lid reconstruction LPSR, Sling, therapeutic botox, etc Enucleation, exenteration, orbitotomy (depends on surgical skill) Apart from this all the fellows get SICS and phaco and also complicated cataract cases Few complex cases are exclusive to IOL fellows Also, IOL fellows get more number of cataract OTs. Work load is more than sufficient with roughly 2200 daily OPD & 1000 daily surgeries during peak season In the off season, your surgery numbers are almost half After 3 years an average fellow completes around 3k-4k SICS with 500-600 phaco (again depends on surgical skill). We have fellows who have completed more than 8k SICS in 3 years and 1000 phaco So it varies and depends on your surgical skill. There are no night duties or camp duties. You get to see all types of cases, even oncology cases are frequently seen.  Every Tuesday there is department class and Saturday is grand class with all departments. Very non toxic environment. Work timings are usually 7:30 am- 7pm including OPD and ward rounds. To this I would like to add that our HOD Dr. Narendra Patidar is very considerate of his fellows, easily approachable, encourages everyone to take up FAICO exam and teaches a lot during rounds.

2 years duration Selection- interview 2 VR fellows and 1 MR fellow taken every 3 months Stipend- 40k in 1st yr, 50k in 2nd yr  No cataract training  First 3 months fellow is posted in General Ophthal units, then from 4th month onwards he is posted in VR dept Once in VR dept, next 3-4 months it's mostly medical retina work- B scans, lasers, intravit injections, you get copious numbers  After 7th-8th month, you start getting steps in retinal surgeries. If your hands are good, you may get to do few simple cases independently even in first year while others may not get even after 1 year.. again, this depends on your skill and also the consultant you are posted with. Macular surgeries are not commonly given, though you may be given the token ILM peeling step for 1-2 cases in the very last month of fellowship. The surgical numbers you get here tend to be less compared to other Aravind centres like Madurai or Coimbatore  Dept is hectic, 400-500 pts seen on average daily  ROP exposure happens in the last 3 months- you are trained to do screenings. No hands-on given for lasers or injections in ROP babies though.  Night duties- once a month Sunday duty- once every 6 months But you may have to do "trial bandage" duty on some Sundays- seeing camp pts and posting for sx Academics- classes + Daily work timings- starts from 7 am, goes late till 8/9pm. VR fellows are the last to leave the hospital. You get exposed to common retinal surgeries by the end of fellowship but most fellows join back as MOs to refine skill and gain further experience.

Duration 2 yrs 6 months of Gen Ophthal posting+ 18 months of Paed Ophthal posting Selection- exam + interview Exit exam + 1 fellow taken every 6 months Stipend 40k They take 2 months salary of 80k as caution deposit- (40k taken in 1st month, 20k taken each in 2nd and 3rd months)- this is returned at the end of fellowship   In first 6 months, you are in Gen Ophthal and see general cases and they start you on SICS as well Phaco is gradually started You join the Paed Ophthal dept after 6th month  Start getting cases after your 2nd-3rd month in paed dept  You get to do squints and paed cataracts mostly, no other surgeries You get more cases of paediatric cataracts in Sankara Blore than other hospitals.. you are also allowed to do independent cases in the end in the free pts  Squints also given but less compared to other places However you are allowed to do simple squints independently and given steps in complex squints No ROP exposure Phaco training given in last 6 months, you get approx 100 phacos.. they may give you advanced cataract cases based on your proficiency  You are trained to manage complications when you are doing SICS  No topical phacos given  Work timings 8-6 pm On call- you have 2-3 rotations of weekly call in the first 6 months.. and it's literally for 1 whole week (Sun- Sat).. you start Sunday duty at 8 pm do till 8am Monday then off for the day to come back again at 8pm Monday to do call till 8 am Tuesday and so on.. till Saturday. Sunday OP duties (8am -1pm) once every 2 months

Duration of fellowship- 18 months  Selection- MCQ exam and interview Fellow intake in Jan and July (Selection process starts 1 month in advance) Stipend- 55k (200-300 TDS deducted) Fellows per session- 2 Non-refundable application fee They assess your surgical skills and start cases accordingly.  Initially, only steps of SICS are given and gradually moved to Phaco (no specific timeline as to when this occurs, esp since this program started only recently in SN, Kolkata) But you get surgeries from the beginning Good clinical exposure as you're rotated in different departments.. since it's a tertiary care centre, lots of complicated referrals and routine cases. Slightly hectic work environment but not toxic.  There's a robust and very approachable student committee (made up of senior faculty) which deals with any problems in the workplace for fellows and PGs Training is by consultants The kind of procedures you are given totally depends on your aptitude & interest.  But since this is a decade old teaching hospital, you do get to perform procedures like YAG-Caps and PI, USG, retinal lasers, etc Once phacos are started, you get 2-3 Phacos per week initially  Phaco training in advanced cataracts (small pupil, pxf, mat cat etc) depends on your consultant's discretion (which depends on your aptitude). But they're not given for all fellows. Training to manage complications while doing phaco is not very common. Only a few consultants teach you anterior vitrectomy. Hands-on for topical phaco comes after satisfactory control over local cases. Most fellows who passed out have learnt to do topical cases  No refractive training included Peripheral postings are there in the form of mobile eye Sx unit (MESU) camps once or max twice a year in other states. The accommodation there is decent.  A max of 2 or 3 each of night calls (7pm-7am), ward duty (7am-7pm) and day emergency (7am-7pm) You will be required to shuttle between 2-3 branches in the city (acc to posting) which are 8-12 km apart. Travel can be burdensome at times. Such postings can also be frequent. There is also a 2 month mandatory posting in SN Hospital in Chennai (which can occur at any time during fellowship)

Duration 2 yrs 2 fellows taken every 6 months Selection- exam + interview Exit exam +  Stipend 40k They take 2 months salary of 80k as caution deposit- (40k taken in 1st month, 20k taken each in 2nd and 3rd months)- this is returned at the end of fellowship  In first 6 months, you see only OP and do B scans and OCTs and learn to interpret findings  You also get countless retinal lasers and intravit injections (you'll be fed up of it by the end) OP exposure is very good, you see every kind of retina case here  Surgical hands-on starts after 6th month  Starts with port making steps, then simple vitrectomy, progressing to vitrectomy with small proliferations etc In the last 9 months you get to do macular surgeries, TRD, CRD and even RRD cases Not much of hands-on for SFIOLs or scleral buckles here Uvea and Neuro-Ophthal cases are seen by VR dept so exposure + Limited ROP exposure- you learn a bit of screening but no lasers given  However they are getting a RetCam so that is expected to change No phaco training  Work timings 8 - 8.30 pm (as junior), timings reduce as you become senior 8 - 6/7pm Dept is very very hectic but not toxic, consultants are approachable On call- you have 2-3 duties per month, 1 Sunday duty, 1 weekend duty, 2 night duties No periphery postings, usually no camp duties for VR fellows unless they are short of residents or fellows from other depts Academics- you have once weekly classes plus also the weekly online session with all Sankara branches pan India All in all, very good fellowship with ample cutting chances, you exit as an independent VR surgeon at the end of 2 yrs.

Duration 2 yrs and 2.5 yrs Selection- written exam (true/false pattern) followed by interview next day  They have two kinds of VR fellowship- - Clinical Fellowship (2 yrs of pure VR) - Clinical cum Research fellowship (first 6 months doing a study/project followed by 2 yrs of VR.. of course you'll be involved with the study over the course of your fellowship even after the first 6 months) You can choose which one you want to take, not compelled to go for research if you say you are not interested. 2 fellows taken for Clinical fellowship, 3 taken for Clinical cum Research but numbers can be variable  Fellows taken every 6 months. No exit exam as of now but there are talks they might have an unofficial one from 2026 onwards. Stipend 55k (no caution deposit) No cataract training included  You are started on surgeries from first month itself, you get steps in the smaller procedures like port making or SO removal etc  You are posted every month in different depts like 1 month in Medical Retina, 1 month in Uvea, 1 month in Oncology, 1 month in diagnostics etc They have 18-19 consultants so every month, you are under a different consultant  You get steps for all retina cases You also see OP but not allowed to dispose pts independently initially  You get to do independent cases in the last 6 months of fellowship when you become an SR .. at that point, you are under a mentor and you see OP pts in your name and dispose them and also operate cases in your name (with the mentor overseeing as required) Medical retina exposure is good, you get retinal lasers and intravit injections in the 1 month you are posted there  OP exposure is good, you see every kind of retina case here  ROP cases are relatively less, it's mostly SRs who go with the consultants to pediatric hospitals and NICUs who get to do lasers, otherwise as a fellow your ROP exposure is mostly restricted to OTs when babies with stage 4/5 ROP are posted for EUA and then you get to see the fundus and learn screening and maybe do few lasers  Oncology exposure is good Work timings officially 8- 5 pm but often goes late depending on pt load and when OT finishes   Peripheral centre duties++ where you are posted to a centre in Andhra called Shri City for 2-3 days (over weekend) at a time in a month where you manage ophthal cases of all specialities  You have 4-5 duties per month of night calls and ward calls (also involves enucleation duties) 1 Sunday duty in a month- 7am -7pm duty You also get a public holiday on call duty- again 7am - 7 pm No camp duties  On call- you have night duties in the first 6 months of joining... but you hardly get any emergencies Academics- once weekly classes  Very hectic fellowship but you get very good exposure to all cases and also get to do independent cases in the last 6 months (based on your mentor's discretion).

Duration 3 yrs (modified to 2 yrs fellowship + 1 yr consultancy from 2026 onwards) 4-5 fellows taken every 6 months Selection- interview Stipend- has changed for 2026, till now it was 50k in 1st yr, 60k in 2nd and 80k in 3rd yr In 1st year you are rotated between diff specialities every 2 months OT is infrequent in first 6 months, like once a week After 6 months OT chances pick up You start with SICS  Phaco is started after 1.5 yrs Initially you get 10 phacos per week in first 6 months Then it rises to 24 cases or more per week  Fellows get average of 600+ cases in last year You get to operate advanced cataract cases (pxf, small pupil, hard cat etc)  You are trained to manage complications Also trained to put iris claws You also get to do some topical phacos at the end Classes every week, except in peak camp season when it gets too busy. Work timings 9 to 6 but in peak season it can even go up to 7.30 pm No periphery postings No night duties No Sunday duties except morning rounds for post op pts Dept is hectic but not toxic Good program, you exit as an independent phaco surgeon by the end of fellowship.

1 year fellowship Selection- based on interview only, no exams- depends on vacancy  40 k per month No cataract training included You get hands-on for FFA, ICG, OCT, OCT angio, UBM, injections including Ozurdex, methotrexate for oncology cases, vit tap Also get lasers like PRO, focal, SMPL, TTT, barrage You get more than 800 intravit injections & lasers more than 300-400 You're allowed almost to manage every case but you should have a good senior or consultant with whom you have a good rapport just to clear your doubts. Chennai has good Uvea exposure too Dept hectic but not that very toxic  ROP exposure is not that good No periphery postings, but have to go for camp and trial bandage and one night duty per month for sure.. enucleation calls are not there luckily. No classes, mostly self learning.   Starts from 7.30 till work over.. mostly upto 6.30 pm. No bond but if you discontinue fellowship in between, you have to return all your stipend.