Duration: One-year fellowship in Christian Medical College, Vellore. Not recognised by MCI / MGR university Tamil Nadu.

Number of seats: 1

Eligibility:  MD/ DNB Radiology.

Application Process: Written examination with MCQs usually held in May followed by interview in June. Forms for the fellowship usually come in April, check the college site for the same. There are total 4 fellowship courses in CMC- Cross-section imaging (1 seat), Cardiothoracic imaging (1), Paediatric imaging (1) and Intervention radiology (2). You can apply for 2 courses. The intervention radiology fellowship is recognised by MGR university Tamil Nadu.

Exam: There is an exit exam at the end with written and viva components.

Thesis: Not compulsory. But you are expected to complete one project in the system of your choice.

Working hours and on-call duties: Regular working hours are from 8 am to 5:30 pm. Daily academic sessions held from 8-8:30 am. You will get 4-5 on-call duties in a month including 2 night duties; there is no post-duty off.

Accommodation: Usually provided based on availability. Married candidates may have to wait for 2-3 months before getting accommodation. I had to stay outside for 2 months before getting college accommodation.

Fees and salary: Admission fee- INR 25000; salary – INR 48000 to 50000

Leaves: Annual leaves- 20-25 days, Casual leaves- 15 days, Sick leaves- 15 days and Deputation leaves- 7 days.

Course Outline: System wise postings- 2 months each in GI-GU, Cardiothoracic, MSK, head and neck and Neuroimaging and 1-month MSK ultrasound posting. In the last month you can ask for posting in the system of your choice or which you feel needs more exposure (among those that I have mentioned above). No separate postings in CT guided / USG guided procedures. However, you can get emergency therapeutic procedures during on-call duties.

MDT (Multi-Disciplinary Team) meetings: You will get to attend lots of MDTs while being in each system-

GI-GU: Hepatobiliary, Colorectal, Urology, Gyn malignancies MDTs

Cardiothoracic: ILD, Pulmonary medicine, Pulmonary malignancies, Upper GI malignancy MDTs

Neuroradiology: Neurosurgery, Neurology and pediatric neurology meets

Head and neck: Tumour board meets, ENT and Ophthalmology meets

MSK: Rheumatology, sarcoma MDTs, Ortho trauma meets

Academic activities: You are expected to do journal clubs, seminars, interesting case presentations and also take teaching sessions for the post-graduates. Their frequency is usually around two to three times a month depending on where you are posted.

Pros: Wide variety of cases in all systems with good follow-up.

Senior consultants are approachable and extremely helpful. Provide expertise and guidance in projects and publication works.

By attending / conducting MDTs we get to know what the referring physician wants in our reports and the role of radiologist in patient management.

PACs room is open 24×7, so you can work anytime day / night.

For sports enthusiast and fitness freaks there are gyms, basketball courts, tennis courts and small football ground in the college and hospital campus.

Huge department (more than 50 doctors in the department); you will definitely have a good friends circle.

There is also a nice convocation ceremony where you will receive the fellowship completion certificate.

Cons: Some may find the work bit hectic with on-call duties and the fact that there is no post duty off.

Language barrier may be a problem for some candidates; however there is minimal patient interaction during cross-section fellowship.

There is no separate posting in imaging guided procedures during the fellowship.

Personal Experience: I thoroughly enjoyed my fellowship in CMC, tried to learn as much as I can in each system that I was posted in. I found all the senior faculty and teachers extremely helpful not only academically but on the personal front as well. There is lot of scope to do good research work. Personally, I feel 1 year is not enough to have in-depth knowledge in all the systems but it gives you an idea and maybe it will help you in deciding which subspecialty to choose as a future career option. I decided to stay back in CMC after finishing my fellowship for some more experience and as I wanted to prepare for my final FRCR part B examination.

So, my advice is that if you are getting an opportunity to work in CMC, just grab it, you will not regret.

– Dr Sourav Panda (MD, FRCR), Cross-section Fellow 2018/19

Currently working as Senior Resident in Department of Radiology, CMC Vellore.