KARACHI, May 25: About 600 patients were treated and provided medicines free of cost at a medical camp set up in a poor locality of Keamari Town.

The free medical camp was established in Machar Colony by a local NGO which was attended by paediatrics, gynaecologists and skin specialists from Lyari General Hospital, Qatar General Hospital and Institute of Skin diseases.

According to the findings of the medical team, skin diseases are prevalent in this area at an alarming rate due to unhygienic conditions.

The NGO — Concern for Children — had already launched health awareness programme in the locality by holding workshops and seminar.

Machar Colony is the most backward area in Keamari Town. It is situated near Karachi Fish Harbour opposite Wazir Mansion Railway Station.

Most of the population of the locality are the cheap workers who are engaged in seafood industry inside the harbour. There is no government or municipal dispensary in the colony.

A local CBO activist, Samiul Haq, said the colony residents could hardly afford expensive treatment in the city.

The colony, known as Machar Colony because of stinking conditions, has no proper drainage condition and sewage can be seen flooding the streets for weeks, with the result that filth and slush have become a regular feature in the colony, forcing people to live in sub-human conditions.