- 1st yr exclusive IOL fellowship - 2nd year- formal Cornea training - 3rd yr managing periphery doing both cataract+ cornea  - Refractive training only in last 3 months of fellowship  - Selection- MCQ exam+ interview - No exit exam - 1-2 fellows per session - Admission fee 1 lac, non-refundable  - Stipend 40k in 1st yr, 50k in 2nd, 60k in 3rd  - From your stipend they deduct 7,500 every month as security deposit which is returned when you finish fellowship 1st year - Exclusively IOL - First 3 months is in main centre- you do SICS mostly  - Then you are posted in periphery for rest of the year where you do both SICS & phaco 2nd year - Cornea training  - First 9 months or so- in main centre, posted with a consultant who trains you in corneal surgeries- TPKs, OKs, DSEK, SLET, AMG etc 3rd year - After that you're posted in one of their 5 major peripheral centres where you are the sole cornea consultant and you see and manage cases there independently. You also post cases to operate. - Last 3 months you are given lots of hands-on for refractive procedures, mostly Lasik and PRK, may get few SMILEs also - Work timings are 8-6 pm - In main centre, you'll have night duty and Sunday duties once a month - In periphery, it becomes night calls every 3-4 nights, Sunday rounds only if you have Saturday OT - Clinical exposure is very good, you see every kind of case - Not hectic - Not toxic either - Weekly 3 classes- 2 of those are common with other fellows, third is just for cornea fellows A mention about their peripheral centres and postings: - They have 4-5 major peripheral centres - And many more minor peripheral centres which are also located in other states (eg Haryana, Bihar, Uttarakhand) - In your 1st yr, you may be posted in one of their minor centres without prior notice so it can get hectic with all the travelling back and forth - After your formal Cornea training in 2nd yr, you are posted to one of their major peripheral centres in Delhi and usually not rotated between centres (unless there's some last min emergencies/changes) Overall a very good fellowship and you exit as an independent Cornea and Cataract surgeon. You usually learn everything there is to learn in first 2 years so some fellows find the 3rd year more of a mental hurdle to get through.

(To clarify, Shroff Eye Centre is not the same as Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital even though both hospitals are located in Delhi.) Started recently (2023) Duration- 2 years Stipend is 65k -75k Selection is by interview- theory knowledge is tested but they are more interested in assessing how you handle patients since they get a lot of private patients. No accomodation provided. They have a camp setup so after you settle in and get familiar with how OP and camp runs, they start you on surgeries in 2nd month based on your skill. They may start you on phacos too, though initially it will be 2-4 phacos/ month.. as your progress improves, they step up the phaco numbers. OT happens every day except Sundays but fellows alternate so each fellow gets 3 OT days per week. Daily routine is to see OP in the morning and operate in the evening. Sunday is not working day unless you have operated on Saturday- then you need to go for Sunday rounds. No night duties or calls for fellows, those are handled by DNB PGs. There's also something called "half day" allotted to fellows every week, where half of a working day is free for the fellow to catch up on research work or do other parts of whatever paper/study their respective consultant is working on. Clinical exposure is average, but you do see all the common cornea cases. Good hands-on for keratoplasties which starts with steps at first. You also get good hands-on refractive cases- around 50-60 LASIK flaps, PRK, SMILE, SILK etc Lamellar keratoplasties are also given but they do more of DMEK than DSEK/DSAEK at this hospital. Work environment is not toxic and all consultants are very approachable. Academics are good- theory classes happen once a week and are attended by fellows of all specialties.

Duration-1 year Selection by interview 1 fellow/ session Stipend 90k You start assisting in paed cases by 3rd month and they give steps by 7th- 8th month, steps are mostly for squint cases, no hands-on for paed cataracts.   Neuro-Ophthal cases are seen in dept but not every textbook case is seen. Cataract training included, starts with SICS, only 1 OT per week so 1 case/week, can increase to 2-3 cases/ OT. Once SICS is mastered they move you to phaco after 6 months, however phaco numbers are low (< 20). Academics- no formal classes, mostly self learning.  Night duties- 2-3/month, Sunday duty 1/ month. No formal bond but if they want people to stay back, they may ask you to commit to bond after fellowship. This should be clarified at the time of selection interview.

Duration 1 year Selection by interview 1 fellow/ session Stipend 90k You start with steps in trab in 2nd month- you get around 25 cases in total. AGV is also done but no hands-on for that. MIGS/ GATT not done here. It's daily OT, work gets over by 6 or 8 pm depending on number of cases. Plenty of cases for glaucoma lasers given. Cataract training included, starts with SICS, only 1 OT per week so 1 case/week, can increase to 2-3 cases/ OT. Once SICS is mastered they move you to phaco after 6 months. However phaco numbers are low, you get approx 15-16 phacos. Academics- regular classes are there. Night duties- 2/month, Sunday duty 1/ month. No formal bond but if they want people to stay back they may ask you to commit to bond after fellowship. This is to be clarified at the time of selection interview.

It's a purely cataract fellowship. I did it for 1 year. The op load is not busy so they take only 2-3 fellows per year. Selection is by interview. Stipend was 40,000. They only take in as fellows who have done at least 750 SICS beforehand- this is minimum requirement. They start you on SICS and then progress from there. I ended up operating 2000+ SICS and 500 phacos. It's a good place to do if you want more case numbers and you're looking only for cataract. Also, this is a purely SICS and phaco fellowship, there is no refractive training here. You get to operate all kinds of cataract and also do topical phaco as well.  Sunday duties and night duties are on rotation. No camp duties.

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.

To get into the fellowship, there is an entrance exam done remotely (online), if you qualify then the 2nd round is in 2 days at Hyderabad centre. Day 1- There will be MCQ exam  Day 2- Face to face interview.  When I did my fellowship entrance, we had to fill in our first and 2nd choice and depending on the MCQ score and interview performance, they announced a list of selected candidates.  A lot of changes in the fellowship program now. However, the basic outline is that any speciality fellowship you choose, you will have a compulsory rotation in all specialities. One gets good exposure in all specialities, both OP and OT exposure is excellent. However, this depends on the campus you get allotted in and the mentor you are assigned.  There is compulsory secondary centre posting where one will have to independently handle a peripheral centre- this builds the foundation to run a centre independently in the future. You will be posting and operating cases everyday for 6 months - 1 year. So before you are posted to the secondary centre, you would have been trained in SICS and Phaco and would be independently operating plus managing complications in your fellow OR.   Constant reviews and evaluations would be done and depending on your performance they will post you in high volume or low volume centre. Post the secondary centre, your performance would be reviewed and you will have an interview or direct selection to the speciality of your choice. Again, which centre and under which consultant would be decided by the team.  The final yr one would be proficient in the speciality of their choice (again depends on your mentor and your centre) and the last 6 months, one is treated like a consultant itself.  Senior doctors are extremely approachable. Anyone can email anyone regarding a case and they respond almost immediately.  It is a well structured program and working hours from 7am to 8pm on most days and sometimes even later until OT finishes. Daily morning classes are taken seriously, attendance is reviewed. There will be presentations. Journal clubs and grand rounds. Overall LVPEI is an excellent centre for overall academic and surgical training. However not everyone fits in easily- there is absolutely no personal time after work and holidays are 10-15 per year. Everyone is a workaholic and if you have similar temperament then it’s the best place to be in. It is entirely the fellow's responsibility to make the most of the fellowship.  You will have to study and put in a lot of hard work and I’m sure that the fellowship would be fruitful. However if one is looking only for a certificate, then pls don’t choose LVP.  If you are seeking a job post fellowship then they even take you in. The whole system is time tested and running successfully, so one will have to fit into the system and cannot question the system.  I can assure you that there is no rigid hierarchy and no bullying by senior fellows.  The whole system works on patient care and pt well being.  Small mistakes which we might not feel significant is reviewed seriously in LVP. Each case you operate will be your responsibility, any issue or complications must be documented well. If there is any lapse in it, then they take it seriously. You cannot fake the outcomes etc. They even monitor your surgical time taken per case etc.  Overall I think it’s the best institution to do a fellowship. In LVP everything is given and anything can be done, provided you do it diligently and do it well.  For some the experience might be too much like repeating PG all over again. They have rules for everything and you will have to obey it.  Things like no AC in rooms, even in peak summer .  No washing machine. No iron box.  No induction stove. Food can be a problem as the canteen that caters to pts is same and shuts in the night.  Things might have changed now .

This is the only fellowship in this hospital, no other specialty fellowships. Duration= 18 months 1 fellow per session Selection by interview, intake based on when present fellow is finishing. Stipend 25k No phaco training  Starts with med retina work- lasers, B-scans in first 3 months  From 4th month onwards you start getting steps in retina cases  There are 5 retina consultants and you are posted 2 monthly with each of them, you tag with them whole day Academics- some classes+ You get mostly steps during the fellowship and based on your skill level, you get to do some independent cases towards the end. ROP exposure is ok, you get to do some ROP lasers but no intravit injections given. Work timings 9-7 pm, not hectic. No night calls or Sunday duties. But you will be posted for Sunday general ophthal camps.

-Duration - 3 months (Short Term) -Fees - 1 lac (No stipend) -Intake - 1 fellow at a time, waiting period varies from 3-9 months usually. -Good hands on with OPD patients, Lasers, OCT, FFA.  -Also get good number of intravitreal injections. -A fellow can see every Retina patient that walks in.  -No night duties, No camps, No stipend -Work Hours -9 am to 6 pm It's a very good course, for 2 months the exposure is intense and since they take only 1 fellow every month, you get to see and learn a lot.

Exposure to all types of retina cases at Aravind is good, we will get lots lasers and injections including in ROP cases. Surgery number is also reasonable... 2 weeks Uvea and ROP + Ocular Oncology training included, there after you will be going for ROP screening in the periphery where you will again see good number of ROPs. At the end of fellowship you will be confident with basic cases but you won't get PDR membrane cases and macular hole (ILM PEELING STEP), lot of fellows, number may vary between fellows. Work load is huge, but minimal toxicity in the department... no single mentor, OT rotation is there.

My 1 month experience in SICS training at HV Desai was extremely valuable. They have a well structured training programme. Faculty is also approachable. I got 26 cases and was able to do cases independently by the end of session. I would highly recommend HV Desai for new SIC trainees. It’s a great platform to enhance surgical skill and eliminate OT phobia. During initial 15 days, trainer used to stand by our side throughout the case.. when they get confidence in the trainee, they let the trainee to do the case and we can call them if we feel the need, they are present in the same OT.

2 months duration Day starts at 8 am, you will go to OT and get trained in how to do direct gonio on pts who will undergo MIGS procedures You do direct gonio on the pt before starting surgery and then another direct gonio after surgery to note changes in AC post op. No hands-on for MIGS procedure per se, only observation After OT, you go to OP and see glaucoma cases- you do GAT, learn how to read perimetry & OCT, discuss abt diff glaucoma types, learn indications of medical management, indications of trab etc You get lots of hands-on for glaucoma lasers- PI, iridoplasties, SLT etc In my 2 months I did around 100 laser PIs (50 eyes) Course fee= ₹50,000 Accommodation available in campus Work timings from 8am -7pm