Short Term Phaco Training review @ Nandadeep Eye Hospital, Sangli, Maharashtra

It is very systematic training. A bit expensive, though.

Travelling may be a little difficult. From Kerala (the reviewer is from Kerala) there is one direct train Poorna express weekly once. From Sangli railway station, it is 10 minutes by auto. 

If planning to go by flight, there is connecting flight to Kohlapur. From there, around one hour travelling distance to the hospital. 

Accommodation they will provide.

It is not one month training like other short fellowships. They will give 50 cases. You can finish it earlier, depending on your hands. If you are ok with your hands, they will give up to 5 to 6 cases per day. So I think you can finish it by 20 to 25 days.. 

Initial two days, there is 3D video class for beginners. Then, there is individual trainer. 

Training is very systematic.. all steps are well explained, all trainers will teach same technique. So there won’t be any confusion in technique. They taught mainly divide and conquer technique. If you are ok with it, they will teach stop and chop method if you are good enough. I think after 20 cases you will start to do phaco independently.

After this training, you will get enough confidence in phaco, but if you have your own centre, my personal opinion is that it’s better to have surgical support in the initial days. 

They have decent canteen. Dinner they will bring to your place. Sunday is holiday. 

Working time- There is no fixed working time. Morning it will start at 9 am. When ever you finish your cases you can leave..

There is basic course and advanced course.

In Basic course, you will get normal NS2 , fully dilated pupil.

In Advanced, you will get small pupil, iris hook, CTR, mature cataract, soft NS1, ant vitrectomy and 3 piece IOL. 

For basic course, it's 3.5 lakhs for 50 cases.

One advanced case is equal to two basic.

So if you want to do one CTR or iris hooks case, you can ask for it. Either you pay for it or you give up 2 basic cases to do the advanced case.