Dr Savleen Kaur wishes to work towards elimination of childhood blindness in India

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : In 2018, Dr Savleen Kaur from Chandigarh was working with a tertiary health care unit in Ophthalmology at Post Graduate Institute of Education and Research at Chandigarh. She had neither the salary nor a full time job. But what she had was an ardent wish to pursue research. She had done all her background work, but opportunities seemed to be eluding her. In  2020, the young lady is working as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology in Advanced Eye centre at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh.

The blessing came in the form of a fellowship  under WOS-A scheme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on March 1,2019 which was the turning point of her life. The WOS-A scheme provides platform to women scientists and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences and offers them opportunity to work as bench-level scientists.The support is available in five disciplines under WOS-A are namely, Physical & Mathematical Sciences (PMS), Chemical Sciences (CS), Life Sciences (LS), Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (EAS), and Engineering Technology (ET)

Dr Savleen finished her post-graduation in ophthalmology from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. After marriage, she moved to Chandigarh. After waiting for a year, she joined as a senior resident at PGI and after that continued as a research associate at PGI only. There came a time when she sat jobless at home and wondered whether she would ever be able to continue in her field. DST gave her a platform to not only showcase her research but also gave her the opportunity to work in one of the best institutes of the country under her favourite mentor.

Dr Kaur says “I was looking for a podium to stand on. I was looking for a break to tell the world about my work and was ecstatic when I got it. I was among the seven in the country who got it in life sciences, and it made all the trouble worthwhile. I had a long break in work with responsibility of family and kids. The scheme made me come back with full force.”

Now that she is in a permanent job, Dr. Kaur is looking forward to expanding her research. There are only a handful of dedicated paediatric ophthalmologists in the country and she wishes to fill this gap and work towards the elimination of childhood blindness in India by further research, according to a PIB release.