England’s tens of thousands of physicians strike for the “longest” time.

LONDON: Tens of thousands of doctors in England started a five-day walkout on Thursday over pay, which is being called the biggest strike the country has ever seen.

Junior doctors, who are just starting out in their jobs after medical school, went on strike at 7 a.m. Many of them stood in picket lines outside hospitals in England to argue for a 35% pay rise.

When inflation is taken into account, the British Medical Association, which is the doctors’ union, has asked for a 35% pay rise to bring young doctors’ pay back to what it was in 2008. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the work load of England’s 75,000 or so junior doctors has grown. This is because the number of people wanting to be treated is at a record high.

“Today is the first day of the longest single walkout by doctors in the history of the NHS,” said BMA heads Dr. Robert Laurenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi. “But this is not a record that needs to be written down,” they added.

They asked the government to drop its “nonsensical precondition” of not talking while strikes are announced.

The government is facing a number of strikes by state workers in many different areas. The government is adamant that it won’t negotiate while the strikes are happening.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said, “This five-day walkout by junior doctors will affect tens of thousands of patients, put patient safety at risk, and slow down efforts to cut NHS waiting lists.” “Asking for a rise of 35% or more is too much and could lead to inflation, which makes everyone worse off.”

Like other countries, Britain is facing high inflation for the first time in a long time. First, the pandemic caused problems with the supply chain. Then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused energy and food costs to go through the roof. Even though inflation has gone down a little since its highest point of 8.7%, it is still much higher than the 2% level that the Bank of England is supposed to aim for.