Last Updated: March 2023

Fellowship Details

Pediatric Ophthalmology Fellowship (Duration – 18 Months)

Department Details

Director: Dr. T S Surendran, DO. M. Phil, FRCS
Deputy Director: Dr. Sumita Agarkar, MS, DNB
Senior Consultant: Dr. Kavitha Kalaivani, DO
Senior Consultant: Dr V Akila Ramkumar, MS, DNB, FICO
Consultant: Dr. Akshay Badakere , MS
Associate Consultant: Dr. Hennaav Kaur Dhillon, MS

The Paediatric Ophthalmology fellowship was started in Year 1993.

Our Goal: The goal of our fellowship program is to provide wide and extensive clinical experience in pediatric eye care as well as adult strabismus. We also hope to provide a stimulus for Research and academic activities related to pediatric

Prerequisite for application:

The applicant must have completed Post Graduation (DNB/MS/MD) in ophthalmology from a recognized university and must be registered with Medical Council of India Candidates employed elsewhere should produce NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE from the employer at the time of interview and should have the relevant original certificates. Candidates with Diploma in Ophthalmology (DO) are not eligible.

Age Limit: Upto 40 years

Duration of the fellowship: 18 Months
Number of positions / Year: 2 every 6 months
Starting Date: January & July
Application Deadline: 31st October & 30th April
Selection Process: The selection process involves a Multiple Choice Objective theory examination followed by a personal interview.

Clinical Responsibilities

The objective of the fellowship is to provide training in comprehensive clinical evaluation of children as well as adult strabismus which includes diagnosis and management Fellows will have rotations with faculty in the department as well as rotations in Oculoplasty , Neuro ophthalmology and Retina . In the last few months of fellowship as senior residents they will examine patients independently in OPD . Fellows are expected to actively participate in clinics as well as in surgery. They will have hands on experience in allied special services like low vision service, contact lens clinic and binocular vision clinic and special children clinic. Institute has a ROP screening programme and fellows are encouraged to participate in the screening. Sankara Nethralaya runs community outreach programme in schools. Fellows will be required to participate in this programme as and when needed

Hands on surgical training

The fellows will have opportunity to assist and perform steps in surgical procedures in the initial part of the fellowship. Independent surgical opportunities will depend on individual skill as determined by the mentor or the attending surgeon They will have limited surgical exposure in pediatric oculoplasty as well as Pediatric oncology.

Educational Responsibilities

The fellows will attend all educational conferences offered by Sankara Nethralaya subject to prior authorization by HOD and academic director. There will be academic meeting once a week. He/she is expected to participate in Journal presentation and discuss interesting and difficult cases in these meetings. Fellows are expected to keep themselves updated on the newer developments in the field The fellows should maintain a logbook which will be evaluated by the academic director and HOD.

Project – Fellows will participate in one or more research projects as a mandatory requirement towards the fellowship completion. They are requested to hand over the data and complete manuscript to the project mentor before fellowship completion certificate can be given

Meetings and conferences. In addition to the in house academic activities, fellows are allowed to participate in two national meetings provided they have a accepted abstract in form of either a poster or paper. Poster cannot be single case report. One meeting will be sponsored by the organization while expense will be borne by the candidate for the second meeting. Total leave provided for the meeting including travel may not exceed 10 days

Other Facilities:

Accommodation

Residential accommodation will be provided to the out station candidates (Subject to availability) at nominal cost on sharing basis.

Library

The library houses a collection of 6000 books & journals related to ophthalmology. The study area includes computer terminals, personal computers with internet access and printers. Online Journals are available on all computers for easy access.

Address for Communication

The Academic Officer
Medical Research Foundation
18, College Road
Chennai – 600 006
Email: academic@snmail.org