The Alumni Association of the College of Engineering, Guindy (AACEG) is among the city’s elite and prestigious professional bodies and has a diverse and high level member base. It boasts of a member profile consisting of ‘Captains’ of industry, technocrats and senior officials serving in the private and public domain. The members of the AACEG, in addition to their pursuit of bettering their own field of specialization and addressing issues pertaining to their vocation are also bonded by a common passion for service and giving back to the society and constantly engage themselves in several service and suffering alleviation initiatives through this August body.

The members of the AACEG had organized a lecture in memory and honour of one of their most accomplished teachers, Dr K.S.Hegde, a man whom they held in high regard and about whom they had fond memories, he had served their institution as Principal with great distinction, a blood donation camp was also organized on the occasion as a mark of their respect to him. Shri V.Vaidyanathan, former Chairman of Sankara Nethralaya and member of the Medical Research Foundation’s Governing Board and a senior member of the AACEG was invited to deliver the “Dr.K.S.Hegde Memorial Lecture” at the college auditorium in the Anna University campus, Guindy. The senior member of the Sankara Nethralaya family leveraged the opportunity to give a most interesting and absorbing account of his institution’s endeavours towards bringing the light of life and smile back on the face of the visually impaired, he emphasized its massive cost free services by way of community ophthalmology camps to the economically backward sections of society. The distinguished alumni gave a fascinating audio-visual presentation about the ‘Mobile Eye Surgical Unit’ (MESU) a most advance medico-engineering marvel, a ‘first of its kind in Asia’ operation theatre on wheels, developed jointly with IIT-Madras and how it takes the most advanced cataract surgery, totally cost free, right to the doorsteps of the most socially/economically backward sections of society, living in highly inaccessible regions of the country including tribal, hilly hamlets, to a highly engrossed and impressed group of techies comprising of engineers from different disciplines. Shri Vaidyanathan concluded his lecture with an emphatic appeal for individual and institutional support to help Sankara Nethralaya dispense its high quality, cost free services to an increasing patient base all over the country; he also utilized the opportunity to underline the critical need for eye donation in the country and need to spread awareness on the same and distributed eye donation pledge forms to the esteemed gathering.

The most interesting and absorbing talk helped in taking Sankara Nethralaya’s cause to a highly distinguished and influential group.