Thousands doctors in England they start today five-day strikea mobilization of unprecedented duration, demanding better wages.

Trainee doctors in England are starting a new strike from 07:00 (local time, 09:00 Greek time) today until Tuesday at the same time.

This is the largest continuous mobilization in the history of the National Health System (NHS) of Britain, which recently celebrated its 75th birthday, according to their trade union BMA (British Medical Association).

About half of hospital doctors in Britain are trainees, which range from doctors who have just finished their studies to those with even more than eight years’ experience.

Trainee doctors have been increasing their strike action in recent months, causing many non-urgent medical appointments to be cancelled. Their previous mobilization was in mid-June.

This Thursday “marks the start of the longest strike by doctors in the history of the NHS”, pointed out the BMA’s Robert Lawrenson and Vivek Trivedi.

“We can call off this strike if the British government follows the example” of the Scottish government, which made a new proposal to doctors, causing them to suspend their mobilisations, they noted.

The government’s “utter inflexibility” is “confused” and “ultimately proving disastrous for everyone who wants to see waiting lists reduced and NHS staff increased”, they added.

“Disappointed” government

The strike actions were just announced in June the Ministry of Health had described this new strike as “very disappointing”.estimating that “these five days of strike action will cause serious problems for patients and put pressure on other categories of NHS staff”.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government believes that the strikes should be suspended while negotiations continue and says it is “ready to continue discussions if the strike is called off” and doctors revise their “absurd salary demands”.

The BMA union says trainee doctors have lost 26% of their pay in real terms since 2008, when health service austerity was imposed. They are now demanding a 35% increase in their wages, which the Sunak government is opposed to.

The NHS is in deep crisisas it is weakened by austerity policies and the effects of the pandemic.

According to BMA figures, around 7.42 million people were waiting for treatment in England in April, with just over 3 million waiting for more than 18 months.

After the trainee doctors and specialists have announced that they will strike on 20 and 21 July.