QUETTA: A strike by doctors in Quetta entered its ninth day on Thursday, causing problems to patients visiting hospitals in the provincial capital.

Local doctors went on strike on July 31, following the kidnapping of a well-known psychiatrist Dr Ghulam Rasool and the government’s failure to get him released.

The strike has spread across several government and private hospitals in the city. Outpatient departments, operation theatres and labour and gynecological wards have remained shut during the strike. Patients admitted in wards have also faced a widespread difficulties following the absence of doctors.