This latest walkout highlights the ongoing struggles facing the underfunded National Health Service (NHS), Britain's public healthcare system.
England's junior doctors launched their 11th strike on Thursday, protesting poor pay and working conditions.
This latest walkout highlights the ongoing struggles facing the underfunded National Health Service (NHS), Britain's public healthcare system.
The ongoing strike by junior doctors in England highlights the long-standing challenges facing the National Health Service (NHS), including persistent underfunding and widespread staff exhaustion.
In January, the doctors staged a historic six-day strike, the longest in NHS history, resulting in the cancellation of thousands of appointments and operations.
According to the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors' union, their pay has decreased by 25% over the past 15 years, prompting demands for a 35% pay increase to address the significant decline in their remuneration.
The deputy chairman of the junior doctors committee at the union, Dr. Sumi Manirajan said that years of underinvestment has resulted in young doctors leaving in droves to countries that offer better pay while those left behind are seriously overworked and underpaid.
“Doctors that I trained with in London, some of the best in the country, have left to go to New Zealand. And actually what it makes me think of is why am I not doing the same? I want to be valued for the work that I do,” she said.
In response, the Conservative government has maintained that it has already provided doctors with a significant pay increase of 8.1% to 10.3% last year, characterising it as a generous offer.
The government has also stated that it cannot entertain further demands during this pre-election period. However, the British Medical Association (BMA) has rejected this explanation, deeming it insufficient, and has chosen to proceed with the strike action, pressing for a more substantial pay adjustment to address the erosion of their salaries over the past 15 years.