On April 12, 2023, during a strike by junior doctors—physicians who are not senior specialists but who may still have years of experience—people held British Medical Association (BMA)-branded placards calling for better pay as they stood on a picket line outside University College Hospital (UCH) in central London. (AFP)
Metropolis Desk-
Senior doctors in England will strike twice in August, according to the British Medical Association (BMA), which described the government’s announcement of a 6% pay increase last week as a “savage” real-terms wage drop.
Adding to the previously announced strikes on July 20 and 21, consultant-level doctors in Britain’s publicly funded National Health Service (NHS) will strike on August 24 and 25, underscoring the failure of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempt to fully end months of industrial action across public services.
Last week, Sunak referred to recent wage hikes in the public sector as a “final settlement,” warning that they would cost billions of dollars, necessitate further budget cuts, and would not be open to further negotiation.
While doctors’ unions were unimpressed following what they claim to be years of salary loss for their members, education unions suspended strikes and advised accepting their settlement.
The chair of the BMA’s consultants committee, Vishal Sharma, claimed that “the government has once again imposed savage real terms pay cut on consultants.”
“We have been given no choice in the face of a government determined to undervalue consultants’ expertise and their disregard for the impact this is having on the NHS.”
The highest among all significant developed economies, Britain’s inflation rate has remained above 11 percent for more than a year, with a recent high of 8.7 percent in May.
The NHS is anticipated to be severely strained as a result of this week’s strikes, which will be the first by consultants in the ongoing pay conflict. Emergency coverage will continue, but the majority of regular and elective services will be cut.
Separately, a five-day walkout by junior doctors in England is being referred to by the BMA as the longest single strike in their history. Qualified doctors make up over half of the medical workforce.
Source- Arab News
