PAY RESTORATION
Sharma said patients were being short-changed and having to endure longer waiting times for treatment, particularly in accidents and emergencies, and doctors were leaving the profession.
“We need to keep doctors here and stop them from leaving because of the poor conditions and poor pay,” he said on a picket line out Saint Thomas’ Hospital in central London.
“Until we deal with that, the waiting list will continue to go up (and) wards will continue to remain understaffed.”
Central to the junior doctors’ demands is to increase pay from £15 (just under $19) an hour to £20.
The deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctor Committee, Sumi Manirajan, said wages had not kept up with inflation over the last 15 years and doctors have to pay thousands out of pocket for indemnity fees, courses and exams.
Manirajan said the government was already making a number of public spending commitments for the general election on July 4.
“Rishi Sunak has made a commitment to spend £2.5 billion on a national (military or civic) service. It would cost £1 billion to pay the doctors,” she said.
The government had already “wasted three billion pounds fighting us”, she added.
“So the money is there. It’s a political choice on where they spend it.”
