Vitreo-Retinal Surgery Fellowship review@ Aravind Eye Hospital, Chennai

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.