Junior hospital doctors in England on Thursday began a five-day strike, a week before a general election in which the state of the publicly funded National Health Service is a major issue.
It follows nearly a dozen similar actions by doctors below specialist, consultant level over the last 18 months.
The NHS is grappling with a massive backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and exacerbated by the repeated doctors’ strikes.
As well as delays to operations and starting cancer treatment, an increasingly dissatisfied public also face long waits to see a doctor at their local surgery.
A recent survey suggested that less than a quarter of Britons were satisfied with the NHS, an unprecedented level.
The doctors have been asking for 35 percent “pay restoration” as a starting position amid a cost-of-living crisis.
They have said they will call off the action if Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak comes to the…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
