The Department of Ophthalmology, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune was established on 16 June 1965. The Department is a tertiary-care ophthalmic centre, serving as a beacon of light to thousands of trainees - undergraduates, post-graduates, nursing cadets and ophthalmology paramedical technicians, over the many decades of its existence.

Academic and Research Programmes

The Department has an excellent post-graduate residency programme with extensive coverage of both theory and hands-on training in various sub-specialties including cornea, glaucoma, retina, squint, oculoplastics and cataract. The Department also introduces the world of ophthalmology to medicos providing comprehensive coverage of ophthalmology in general practice, especially focusing on practical management of commonly encountered eye conditions. The Department also regularly conducts CMEs and updates at the local and national level. The residents of the Department regularly attend and present cases and talks at various meetings of Poona Ophthalmological Society and Maharashtra Ophthalmological Society. The Department is a recognized centre for conducting DNB examinations and imparts training to the DNB candidates during mock examinations. The faculty and residents actively participate in various research projects and submit scientific articles for publication in various national and international journals.

Infrastructure and Clinical Practice

The state-of-the art Vitreoretinal and Cornea Centres of the Department cater to the needs of service personnel and their dependents of Southern Command, as well as civilians from Pune and other parts of Maharashtra. It has a highly sophisticated retina clinic with the latest equipment to image, study, and treat various disorders of the retina, including diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, macular disorders and others. The cornea clinic of the Department diagnoses and treats an array of corneal disorders such as corneal ulcer and perforation, corneal opacities, corneal ectasias and corneal dystrophies. Glaucoma diagnosis and management is regularly being carried out at the Department. Cataract surgeries are done free of cost to all segments of the society.

Eye Bank (Phone: 8806666041)

The Department houses an Eye Bank that provides donor cornea for in-house corneal transplantation as well as for tissue transfer to other centres. The eye bank also provides tissues for research purposes. This centre provides free corneal surgeries for service personnel, their dependents and civilians alike. A variety of sophisticated corneal surgeries including, but not limited to penetrating keratoplasty, various types of lamellar keratoplasties such as DSEK, n-DSEK, DMEK, SALK, DALK, and surface corneal surgeries such as limbal relaxing incisions, SLET, mini-SLET, and amniotic membrane transplantation are done on a regular basis. A yearly Eye Donation Fortnight is organised to generate awareness about eye donation and features an inter-collegiate quiz for medical students from various medical colleges in Pune, art and poetry competitions for medical and nursing cadets, as well as various lectures highlighting the importance of eye donation.

Outreach Programmes

The Department also organizes eye camps to provide services to various sections of the society in collaboration with various governmental and non-governmental organisations. Besides, the Department has a regular outreach programme at Kasurdi, a village adopted by Armed Forces Medical College, by providing eye clinic and referral services for various eye ailments.