Vitreo-Retinal Surgery Fellowship review @ LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad

Duration= 3 yrs

They have 4 main campuses (+1 new campus started recently but not taking fellows) so the number of fellows taken in each campus varies, usually 2-4 VR fellows per campus

4 main campuses are

• KAR campus (the main one)

• Vijayawada campus

• Vishakapatnam campus

• Bhubaneshwar campus

Training is the same in all campuses, the management decides where you are alloted for fellowship. You do not have a say in it.

Selection- exam + interview

1st 9 months- cataract training, they train you to be fully competent so that u can handle even advanced cases

Next 1 year is spent at one of their secondary centres where you manage it entirely and do cataracts the whole year. Their secondary centres see crowds of patients every day.

Then you come back to your parent campus and start VR training- this is the last 15 months.

Academics- there are regular classes, happens in the main KAR campus, fellows in other campuses attend it online.

OP is very hectic, you see a wide variety of cases

Good surgical hands-on in all kinds of retina cases, majority of their consultants are usually fellows who join back after finishing, they are your primary trainers, towards the end you get to operate many retina cases independently.

ROP exposure is good, you get lasers and intravit injections in ROP babies also.

VR dept on non-OT days may finish by 8 pm but on OT days work can go on as late as 1 am at night, even later on some days because they keep operating emergencies through the night as they come.

LVP doesn't hold camps- all their patients come directly or from their many secondary centres.

Stipend is 50k for 1st 2 years, 70k for 3rd yr.

So to summarize, their VR program is

- Cataract training in first 9 months

- Then 1 year of service at their secondary centre 

- Then 15 months of formal VR training 

Some rules and regulations in LVP-

You have to punch in before 7 am every day. If you punch in at 7 or even 7.01 you will be marked absent for whole day.

Similarly you have to punch out, if you don't, then also you are marked absent for that day.

You are given 19 days of leave every year but if your leave exceeds 19 days then you will work extra days to finish your fellowship- for every 1 day extra of leave taken, you have to work 2 days in return. 

So if your leave has exceeded 5 days, you will have to work 10 days past your fellowship due date to complete it.

So main takeaway point here- never ever ever forget to punch in before 7 am daily.

Drop out rate in LVP is high, there are reports of fellows in diff depts quitting fellowshp midway.

For eg, they had 7 cornea fellows join one year and by the end of fellowship, only 2 of the original were still left.

Penalty for leaving fellowship in between is not huge fines or return of stipends earned. You get blacklisted. That's it. Goodbye. For ever. 

Non-vegetarian food not allowed at all in campus.