Cornea-Refractive Fellowship review @ Prasad Netralaya, Udupi, Karnataka

Duration 1.5 years 

1-2 fellows per session. Fellows are taken annually. 

Has an interview based admission and an exit exam.

Stipend 30k for 12 months, 35k for the last 6 months.

Good number of OPD Exposure for cornea as well as refractive cases .

Surgical hands on with cornea cases include penetrating keratoplasties (PK), descemetopexy, AMGs, corneal tears, cornea tattooing etc. 

When it comes to Keratoplasties - decent number of PKs. 

Chances for lamellar cases are slim. 

The surgical number depends on individual efforts to build up the skills. 

Refractive exposure is excellent as well - includes work up on a daily basis with observation and hands on with PRK, femtoLASIK, SMILE and ICLs.

One can get good exposure on recent advances in investigation of cornea and ocular surface diseases.

Added advantage-

Cornea-Ref fellows get to operate cataracts as well (SICS and Phaco) in almost equal numbers as Phaco-Ref fellows. 

PS: Towards the end of fellowship- if the fellow is interested in any other branch, the institute provides opportunity to work under that speciality for few days (retina/ glaucoma etc). Becomes advantageous to the ones who are planning for private practice later . 

Downsides-

Hectic schedule

Can be a bit of a hustle to manage between Cornea and Cataract OTs (Cataract OT runs congruently with Cornea OT so you need to make time after Cornea OP/ OT to do cataract cases. Might need to come early next day or stay late after work to do cataract cases).

There are also penalties in case of complications during cataract surgery. If patient ends up requiring iris claw lenses, the doctor is expected to pay for the same from his own pocket.