LONDON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Junior doctors in Northern Ireland began a 24-hour full walkout over pay for the first time on Wednesday, resulting in thousands of medical appointments being canceled.
The strike was called after 97.6 percent of junior doctors participating in a British Medical Association (BMA) ballot voted in favor of industrial action to demand pay restoration.
"No doctor wants to strike but we feel we have been left with no choice but to stand up for ourselves," said Fiona Griffin, chair of BMA's Northern Ireland junior doctors committee, adding that "unacceptable pay and conditions" were causing "an acute workforce crisis that is not being taken seriously."
Despite a heavier workload, junior doctors' pay in Northern Ireland has shrunk by 30.7 percent since 2008 when compared with retail price index inflation, according to the BMA.
Northern Ireland's Health Minister Robin Swann said in February that he was moving to implement recommendations from the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, a national pay review body. The recommendations include offering junior doctors a 9.1-percent average pay increase in 2023 and 2024, with those in their first year receiving a 10.7 percent uplift.
However, the BMA Junior Doctors Committee called for an above-inflation pay rise and full pay restoration to 2008 levels.
In a statement published about a week ago, Robin Swann questioned what the industrial action can hope to achieve, and expressed his "deep concern over the implications for patient care."
"This is a national issue, reflecting national government policy, and has impacted on public sector workforces across the UK," Swann said in the statement.
Before the walkout in Northern Ireland, junior doctors had staged rounds of strikes in both England and Wales since the beginning of this year amid long-time pay disputes.
Widespread strikes started in the summer of 2022 amid disputes over pay and working conditions across the country. The majority of the strikes were in the health and social work, as well as education sectors. ■
