NHS junior doctors to go on 5-day strike in UK

Junior doctors will go on a 5-day strike beginning July 13. British Medical Association has confirmed that more than 46,000 junior doctors across Britain will join the doctors demanding better salaries.



The National Health Service has offered a 5% hike in the payment, but the BMA has rejected it. The doctor’s organization has said that the offer is too less, and it does not offset the inflation rise in the country. But the government is sticking to its offer, saying it is ‘fair and reasonable’.


The BMA has demanded an increase of 35 percent to make up 15 years of below-inflation hikes. It will be the fourth strike of junior doctors since the beginning of the talks for salary hikes.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairpersons Dr. Robert Laurenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi said that it will be the longest strike in the history of the NHS, but it is not a record that should go into the NHS history. He added that the government can avert the junior doctors’ strike by coming forward with a more credible offer.

In Scottland, the government has offered a hike of 14.4% over a period of two years.

Junior doctors make up almost half of all the doctors in the UK.

Earlier, the BMA Chairman Dr. Filbanfeild wrote a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asking him to clarify if he had stopped the talks with the junior doctors. He also said the Health Secretary has admitted that the junior doctors were underpaid, but he offered a meager 5 percent hike in the salary.

The National Health Service is the government-funded healthcare system in the UK. It has more than 1.2 million employees. The basic principle of the NHS is free healthcare at the point of use for all citizens of the country. It is the second government-funded healthcare system after Brazil.

FAQs:

Q1:When the junior doctors in the UK will go on strike?
The junior doctors in the UK will go on strike on Jul 13.

Q2:What the government has offered to the NHS junior doctors?
The government has offered a 5% hike in the salary of junior doctors.