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Duration 1 year 1 fellow taken per year Stipend- 1.29 L This fellowship has fees- 80k approx, caution deposit 20k included in this (refunded) Selection- Entrance exam followed by dept assessment- only those who clear both are taken as fellows You enter Cornea dept directly from first month, no general Ophthal or other speciality postings You are started on TPKs from first month itself along with other small corneal surgeries. Once you've done 20 TPKs, you start getting steps for optical KPs.. you continue to do TPKs and opticals for the rest of the year. You also get good chances for other cornea surgeries like patch grafts, trauma repairs, ocular surface procedures (AMG, MMG, SLET etc) Cataract training not included.. if you know SICS, you may get ~5-10 cases in a year.. if you know phaco, they'll give you approx same number but if you don't know phaco, you'll get only SICS.. no phaco training given. No refractive setup, hence no training for the same. You are one fellow posted under the one main consultant in the dept so it's a good one on one training. Ma'am is proactive and liberal in giving all cases to the fellow. Can expect steps in few lamellar cases towards the end of fellowship (provided you are doing optical KP well). Work timings 9 am- 4/ 5 pm All consultants are friendly, dept is not toxic. Sundays off unless you have ward rounds. OT is 2-3 times a week. Public holidays off No peripheral postings Night duties- once a month (rarely twice a month) No camp duties/ enucleation duties You will be responsible for grading all donor corneas- the eye bank setup here is good. Academics- regular weekly classes. You are also encouraged to attend conferences and present papers and posters. Overall, very good fellowship for someone looking just for Cornea exposure. Even though it's only 1 year, you're an independent cornea surgeon by the time you finish.

Duration 1 year Selection- Entrance exam followed by interview 1 fellow taken per year (some years they may not take fellows at all if applicants are not up to mark) No Paed Ophthalmology training Stipend- 1.29L In this 1 year, you work as an SR mostly seeing general Ophthal cases and handling emergency duties and taking calls You also attend Squint Clinics once a week You're allowed to manage OP from day 1. Allowed also to work up squint cases and manage pts after consulting with HOD Ma'am. OT exposure is very limited 2 reasons- • Surgical patient load is low • Cases given differ from fellow to fellow No definite time for when a fellow gets to start OT, depends on the fellow's competence and whether Ma'am thinks they are ready. Her working style may not be easy to navigate.. there are fellows who have adjusted around this and also those who have not and quit midway. If you do get cases, they tend to be single-digit R&Rs (resection recessions) and some 2-3 oblique muscle surgeries at the end. No complex squint hands-on given but you'll see cases in OP along with Neuro-Ophthal cases. Cataract training not included.. no adult or paediatric cataracts given (camp cases rare). Ma'am operates paed cataract cases though, so you can assist for the same, OT is twice a week No ROP exposure. Work timings 9 am- 4/ 5 pm Sunday duties 1-2/ month depending on how many SRs (non-fellow) are there with you in the dept. No peripheral postings. Night duties- 2-3 calls/ week, you're 2nd on call and have to manage whatever trauma comes.. lots of surgical exposure that way as you're given free hand to manage perfs, lid repairs, globe repairs (even in children under GA) etc.. however getting a free OT with microscope can be a challenge since other depts share the same OT.. which often means your turn ends up coming very late (into the night) based on emergency case's priority. Academics- no classes, up to you to read. Overall, you'll learn how to evaluate and manage common squint cases by the end of 1 year but surgical exposure is limited.

Duration of fellowship- 24 months Selection- Exam and interview Fellow intake- 1 fellow per session but this depends on Chennai- some years there may not be any intake for Kolkata branch Stipend- 55,000/ month Of the 2 yrs, one year will be in Chennai and the other year will be in Kolkata. First month is orientation period (in Chennai) where you shadow consultants and fellows to understand how the hospital and its system works. Then you're posted in Orbit dept from 2nd month onwards- you may continue in Chennai or else posted in the Kolkata branch (either for 1 year). No general Ophthal postings. You start seeing OP and learn to manage cases. OT happens twice a week. There's also cataract OT once a week where you operate camp cases. If you're a beginner in SICS, they train you from scratch.. liberal hands-on for SICS cases (they operate using Blumenthal method here). Phaco training also given but only in 2nd yr and numbers are fixed at around 15-20. In Oculoplasty dept, steps in surgeries are given from 2nd month onwards, but for orbit surgeries and cosmetic procedures, you mostly assist. You are given independent OP and consultant OT (where you're posted with a consultant) in the last 6 months when you become SR. You get to do independent cases of DCT/ DCR, frontalis sling surgeries etc in the last 6 months. Clinical exposure- good Work environment- 9-5 but you're expected to come well before 9 and finish post ops and other related work before OPD formally starts OP tends to be busy, can go beyond 5 pm also. You also have community centre posting for 1 month in 1st yr and 1 month in 2nd yr where you operate only cataracts. Peripheral postings also +, can be posted to other SN branches or centres bordering Andhra etc.. how long you're posted there depends on requirement and duty schedule. Camp duties also every month Academics- Classes every week In the year (1st or 2nd) when you have the Chennai posting, you also have a 15 day Pathology posting where you get to gross samples and see histology of many Onco cases, good exposure for Ocular Oncology. Fellow posting in the Chennai branch tends to be more structured than in the Kolkata branch.

Duration= 3 months Charges= 60,000 (for full course) No stipend The program is mostly observation, not allowed to manage cases independently, no hands-on for lasers or surgery. You are posted with a diff consultant each month You shadow them in OPD and OT. You learn basics of managing glaucoma suspects and diagnosed cases, you get to do OPD procedures like GAT, gonio (depending on consultant).. you are also trained to read diagnostics like perimetry and OCT. Is better suited for those who are proficient in seeing optic disc undilated and have some idea of estimating CDR. Work timings 9-7 pm No duties or calls Sundays free Can attend classes conducted by the Institute. You will be knowledgeable in diagnosis and medical management of glaucoma cases by end of 3 months

Duration- 1.5 yrs Selection- by interview Stipend- 30,000 3-4 Fellows taken per year They start with SICS After 1 year once we get confident in SICS, they start phaco Phaco training is initially in wet lab for few days followed by stepwise training inside OT by senior consultants Glaucoma fellows share cataract OT with Comprehensive fellows. First month is wet lab and then I started getting initial steps under guidance and once all steps are done accurately, we started getting independent cases- this is the training pattern for SICS and phaco BOTH. Phaco is done through scleral tunnel and once confident, shifted to corneal incision under guidance. Good clinical exposure and excellent potential for learning skills. Consultants are extremely helpful and guiding fellows, trainees, DNB through each step. I have got to see many interesting cases along with morning classes discussion helped me a lot to gain confidence in OPD skills.. as well as publishing various research papers. Consultants are extremely dedicated towards teaching and guiding in surgeries while giving extra efforts to beginners and slow learners. I also got to learn under some senior DNBs and fellows who have made my journey very fruitful. Work timings- 8.15 am to 5.30 pm With evening camp duties on rotation Very friendly and learning environment Few days are hectic but usually working is in a balanced way with proper duty roster allowing us to give time to reading text books too. Some other procedures/surgeries we get hands-on in during this fellowship- DCT, DCR, pterygium surgeries, few steps in evisceration, lid repair, SICS+ TRAB (combined ) OT is scheduled 3 times in a week on alternate days with good hands-on in SICS. And 1-2 phacos is given in each OT, while rest of cases done are SICS. Phaco initially we do in grade 2-3 cataract followed by hard cataract as we develop good surgical techniques. We are trained in anterior vitrectomy also during the process. Fellows are allowed to manage their intra- operative complications under guidance of senior consultants. NO topical phacos given NO refractive training NO peripheral postings Evening camp duties on rotation basis. Night duties and Sunday duties once a month.

Duration- 18 months Selection- by interview Intakes at fixed time during the year, Interested candidates can apply at the director’s email id. Intake usually happens when the previous fellow has 6 months of fellowship remaining so that the new fellow gets accustomed to the protocols by the time the senior fellow finishes his/her fellowship. Stipend- 30000/month 1 fellow taken per session NO cataract cases for retina fellows Retinal surgeries are initiated from the beginning. Initially, fellows are taught steps and gradually escalated to independent surgeries. They are given all kinds of retinal surgeries and by the end of their fellowship, they are well equipped in handling retina cases independently. Since there are camp patients, they get ample number of independent vitrectomies. Clinical exposure- Very good, since it’s a tertiary referral centre. The institute also has a very good Uvea exposure and almost all the regular cases present to the Institute. Fellows get well versed with both retina and uvea cases. Institute is well equipped with latest equipments Working environment is very conducive for learning. It is not at all toxic, neither very hectic if you look at the fellowships in some other institutes. Fellows get ample time to study. They need to present cases- around one every 2 months. Fellows are directly trained under consultants All the consultants, even from other specialties are very approachable. The fellows are encouraged to be involved in research activities and to present in state and national level conferences. Plenty of chances for lasers and Intravitreal injections. You get hands-on for common retina surgeries like- • Silicone oil removal, macular surgeries (ERM, Macular hole), retinal detachment surgeries, vitreous hemorrhage and Diabetic TRDs, managing nucleus and IOL drops, SFIOLs If the fellow is proficient, he usually gets to do all of these surgeries independently by the end or even earlier. The USP of VR fellowship in MGM is the tremendous ROP exposure, definitely one of the best in India. The institute has agreement with a large network of NICUs where they attend for ROP screenings in various districts of Chhattisgarh. The days are fixed for various NICUs. Fellows are first trained in screening and lasers with the Consultants and then attend for independent screenings and lasers. Fellows are also trained in giving intravitreal injections to ROP babies both in the OT and in the NICU setup in sick babies. ROP lasers are done both under GA and LA. ROP surgeries are usually only done by the senior consultant. Duties • NO peripheral postings • Diabetic retinopathy screening camps sometimes come up, but these camps are not fixed. Usually the camp duties are attended by DNB residents and fellows doing cataract surgery • 2 emergency night duties in a month and Sundays on call by rotation among residents and fellows. Academics • 8.15 am- 9 am -classes everyday (attended by all DNB residents and all subspeciality fellows) • Retina Meet happens monthly once where retina consultants and fellows discuss practical topics in retina, problems they face in OPD and OT while managing patients, dissect their surgical videos. Daily work timings • 8.15 am- 9 am - Daily class • OPD and OTs usually begin by 9.30 am and finish by 5.30 pm. Sometimes, depending on number of patients, it may get extended to 6 pm. • Retina fellows are usually free after that. Initially, to enhance their indirect ophthalmoscopy skills and their clinical judgement, they evaluate the camp patients in the evening. Other remarks • No bond or caution deposit. • Accommodation is usually provided by the institute. • ROP work can sometimes be hectic with early morning or late evening lasers/injections.

2 year fellowship Selection: Short MCQ exam for overall assessment followed by interaction with each consultant No fixed intake time of the year. Usually 2 fellows are already in the program at any given time. 1 fellow intake per year. They require 25k caution deposit and keep your documents. If you leave the fellowship midway, you will have to return all the salary received. Stipend- 50k per month No cataract for retina fellows. OT posting starts after 6 months Initial 1 month is more of observation Then SOR and steps start . After 9 months you start getting independent simple cases such as VH. There is no restriction like in other VR fellowship programs of not getting membrane peeling cases. You get experience of all steps of all retinal surgeries. But numbers you get is average, as there is only single OT table for Retina. So consultants have to make time in their list to give you cases and steps. There is also a charity hospital attached to Main Center with simple OT setup having Retikare. Clinical exposure is good. You get to see independent OPD right from 3-4 months of fellowship. Any doubts you can cross consult with consultants. You see variety of cases. Definitely uveitis , paediatric retina cases. ROP not much exposure. No ROP laser exposure. Work timings are 10:00 am to 7:30 pm. On OT days it can extend a little. Work environment is not toxic . Sometimes can get little hectic. General night duty comes once in 2 weeks Sunday full-day and half-day duties once in 2 months You do surgeries under guidance of consultants throughout the whole fellowship. Lasers they have slit lamp (pattern also) and LIO. Laser exposure is great. You do independent laser from 3- 4th month of fellowship. Numbers are as high as 10-12 every day. Injections also very high load. No official peripheral postings. Rarely they may send fellow for 1-2 weeks to peripheral branch to manage OPD and lasers. Surgeries you commonly get: Diabetic vitrectomies- VH, TRD, CRD , TPHM RRD (very few cases) , 240 bands (few ) Macular hole (few), SFIOL (few) Overall exposure is good. Numbers not comparable to other high volume centres. First 3 Mondays of every month, Retina class will be there participated by Retina consultants of all branches and fellows from Coimbatore and RIK (Retina Institute of Karnataka), Bengaluru. 2 years fellowship = 18 months + 6 months Last 6 months, no night duty or Sunday full duty. Salary will be same throughout.

18 months Selection- Exam followed by interview Intake- twice a year, 2-3 fellows per session Stipend 40k per month First month is suture practice and block room postings Then you start SICS from 2nd month onwards You get 2 OTs per week and 2 hours per OT (1 hour per sics in the beginning) As your speed picks up, you do more number of SICS in those 2 hours, so case number per OT increases. First 100 SICS you have to put tunnel sutures since pts are sent home the day they are operated and follow up only after 1 month. Next 100 SICS cases are supero-temporal section. Next 100 SICS are temporal sections. You get to learn SICS in all types of cataract. You also learn to manage your own complications. In fact after 7-8 months, you will be posted for observation duty in OT where you supervise your juniors as they operate and step in when they have complications. Also trained in iris claws, CTRs, ant vitrectomy etc By the end of first year, they start giving you 1 phaco case per OT Usually, the phaco's the 11th case, meaning if you manage 10 SICS in 2 hours, you can do the 11th one as phaco. Phaco numbers increase per OT depending on skill and learning curve.. but initially it's 1 case per OT for initial 1-2 months You get topical phacos towards the end. Phaco numbers average around 80-90 cases over 6 months, however these tend to be normal NS 2-3 cases, not advanced cases. Also, phacos are all done under scleral section since you can implant only rigid IOLs, no corneal or limbal sections since foldable IOLs are not implanted for camp pts. OPD posting- Work timings 9-6 Initial 5-6 months, fellows are posted solely in camp OP managing pts. After 6 months they shift to general OP where they see pts and refer to respective specialties. IOL fellows come under an In-Charge who is usually a consultant of another speciality.. earlier, fellows used to be under a Retina consultant.. recently the faculty in charge of IOL fellows has changed to a Paed Ophthal consultant who is proactive and supervises fellows' numbers and progress. You have stay camps every month, from Fri- Sun where you travel to an outstation. 2 weekends go for stay camps. 3rd Sunday for OP duty. 1 Sunday in a month is free. Once you complete 1 year of fellowship, you don't have stay camps, it's more or day camps and Sunday OP duties. Also, cataract numbers tend to be limited for Coimbatore fellows since cases are shared between primary & secondary DNBs along with other speciality fellows as well.. compared to Sankara Banglore, you get lesser numbers in Coimbatore. Usually no peripheral postings. Very rarely they may post you to their other centres if they face fellow shortage there. Overall, you come out as an SICS surgeon who can operate all cataracts and manage their own complications.. you gain some confidence in phaco but more exposure is needed post fellowship for advanced cases.

Duration 2+ yrs (2 yrs is minimum but Rohit Shetty sir might ask fellows to do 3-4 months extra, finishing point is upto sir) Fellow intake and number is random, they took fellows on monthly basis in 6 months in 2026 (needs to be confirmed with hospital if they are taking any more fellows for 2026) Selection- Interview Stipend- 56k per month You get liberal hands-on for cataracts and refractive cases in this fellowship. Cornea cases are relatively lesser. You are posted in 2 centres (random postings)- one for cataracts and Cornea and the other for refractives. You start getting cataract cases in 1st month itself, they start with SICS If you're good in SICS, they shift you to phaco within 1.5 months If you're not proficient, you'll spend more months in SICS and start phaco later Phaco hands-on is good, you get to do all kinds of cataract.. OT is 3 times a week, they increase case numbers per OT as you get better.. you also get to do topical phacos by the end Refractive cases hands-on also starts early.. they have daily OT so you start with lasik, PRK, trans-PRK etc and get lenticules, SMILE by the end. Cornea posting is not as structured as Cataract posting. Clinical exposure in Cornea is good though, you get to see all kinds of cases when posted. Surgical steps begin late.. usually within 6 months or after.. cases are less (and fellows are more) and you get mostly TPKs.. optical keratoplasties are sometimes given but you get only steps like graft trephination or suturing in those, not the whole case.. the only independent keratoplasty cases you're given are TPKs.. You get to do a few DALK cases in the last 2-3 months. Work punch in at 7.45 am, work goes till 6 pm Can also go till 8 pm occasionally if you have research lab meetings. You'll be part of all in-house research, collating and tabulating data and will also be expected to present/ speak in national and international conferences. All conferences are usually self-sponsored except for the very few that the hospital agrees to sponsor. Night duties 3-4/month, first on call. Sundays OP duty/ camp workup duty twice a month. Academics- no formal classes, mostly self learning. By the end, you can do phacos and refractive cases independently.. Cornea exposure is relatively limited but you will be made familiar with how to do cases.

Duration 2 yrs 1 fellow taken every 6 months Selection- Exam+ interview Stipend 40k (Caution deposit of 80k taken from first 2 months' salary) No phaco training. First month is orientation period, you are posted in diff depts to understand how the system works. Second month onwards you're posted in VR dept. Initial 6 months you're mostly in the retinal investigations room doing B scans, FFAs, OCTs. Thereafter you're posted in OP and can see cases and manage them on your own or in consultation with seniors. You are posted for 3 months with each VR consultant. Surgical hands-on starts with steps from the time you enter VR dept. Fellows get OT twice a week. Liberal hands-on for retinal lasers and intravit injections. ROP training in last 6 months. You learn screening and also get hands-on for ROP lasers and injections in last 3 months. No ROP surgeries done here. You get to assist and see all kinds of retinal surgeries done here... RD surgeries are not commonly given. You do get chances for macular surgeries though, ILM peelings are given if the consultant thinks you can do it. One shortcoming of this program is that even when you're posted in OP, you don't spend much time in OP seeing patients, you're running around either for investigations or OT.. so clinical exposure can be limited in that way. Last 6 months as SR, you're given your own cabin and you see more OP pts that way. Independent cases for surgery also given at the end but again, numbers vary based on your ability to handle them. Dept is not hectic, consultants are friendly. Work timings 9- 6pm, can end late on OT days. You have Sunday duties twice in a month (either Sunday OP or else sunday camp) No peripheral postings for VR fellows. You may also get chances to do SICS or phacos once in a while (if you know how to operate).. but that is only after all your dept work is done, like on those rare days where retina OT gets over early. Overall, a decent fellowship that provides basic foundation. Limited OP exposure is a concern. Plus, you get mostly steps in surgery till the end- unless you are exceptionally skilled and pick up unusually quickly... which is not the norm with VR training, which is why even 2 yrs is not adequate for most fellowships. Will need more clinical and surgical experience post fellowship.

3 year MCh program Thesis work+ Selection: Exam followed by interview Intake- once a year, usually 1-2 general candidates, more for foreign candidates Stipend- 1.3L in 1st year, 1.4L in 2nd yr, 1.5L in 3rd yr No cataract training for retina fellows. Initially you have training sessions on the simulator which progresses to steps and chances to close small cases within first 6 months. After 6 months, you get hands-on for the bigger cases. Fellow OT is twice a week. You get to do all kinds of retinal surgeries, including macular surgeries. Also copious hands-on for retinal lasers. Uvea posting under Prof Vishali Gupta is good, extensive exposure to Uvea cases and management. You also get 6 months of paediatric retina & pure ROP posting. You do ROP screenings, ROP lasers and also surgeries in ROP stage 4 and 5 babies. Retina OPD timings are 9-5 pm but often runs till 7.30/ 8 pm. You are posted for 6 months each with a retina consultant, there are 6-7 consultants in the dept. You see only retina cases, no general cases at all. After 5 pm, all emergency cases pertaining to Retina have to be managed and operated by fellows so some days, work can go even till midnight Night call- once a month Camp duties- occasional, once or twice a year No peripheral postings Sundays are off except for when you have ward rounds (depending on which consultant you're posted with). You have the MCh exam after 2.5 yrs Internal exams occur every 6 months Fellows have to take classes for JRs. In addition, there are also weekly classes for fellows. Good program, can be hectic depending on which consultant you're posted under, but you exit as an independent VR surgeon by the end of 3 yrs.

Duration 3 yrs MCh fellowship so you acquire an officially recognised formal degree at the end of fellowship. You have to do a thesis as well. 1 General category, 1 sponsored and 1 foreign candidate taken every 6 months Selection- Entrance exam followed by interview (they prefer someone with at least 2 yrs SRship) Stipend- 1.3 lakh in first yr, 1.4L in second yr, 1.5L in 3rd yr You enter Cornea dept directly from first month, no general Ophthal or other speciality postings By the end of first month, you will have been started on the therapeutic/emergency procedures- patch grafts, AMTs etc Fellows have OT twice a week. You're posted with each Cornea consultant for 3 months. They also train in phacos, but if you're an SICS beginner or know only SICS, it might be delayed, they will start phaco training slowly. You also start getting refractive cases, depending on the consultant, they might give you hands-on as early as 2nd month onwards or at the latest, from 6th month onwards. You get ample cases for surgery, whether cornea, phaco or refractive (SMILE, LASIK, PRK, approx 100+) Liberal numbers for penetrating keratoplasties in 3 yrs, easily 1000+ cases Phacos ~800 topical phacos Lamellar keratoplasty is more limited since there is a bit of scarcity of donor tissue, even then you get to do around 10 cases or less.. you will be given few independent cases of lamellar to do by the end (~ 3-4 independently) Work timings 9 am- 5 pm But Cornea clinic can go till 6.30 pm depending on pt load and how fast you see cases Doesn't usually cross 7 pm All consultants are friendly, dept is not toxic. Sundays off Public holidays are off unless you have ward patients or postops from day before. No peripheral postings. Night duties- once a month (rarely twice a month) You are 2nd on call but you have to manage and operate all the trauma cases that come. Camp duties may very rarely be assigned to MCh fellows. Academics- regular weekly classes PPTs usually made by MCh fellows and are exhaustive (helpful for the internal exams as well as the final exit exam) Exit exam+ Internal exams also conducted every 6 months. Overall, a good fellowship since you come out independent in all corneal surgeries, phacos and refractive procedures.