The Telegraph newspaper, quoting data from the British Office for National Statistics, revealed that the death rate in Britain rose significantly last March due to the doctors' strike. The newspaper wrote: “During one week of the young doctors’ strike, and in the following week, 22,571 deaths were recorded, which is 11.1 percent more (2,247 deaths) than the average death rate.” A spokesman for the British Medical Association, Philip Penfield, said that without careful examination of this data it is impossible to determine the consequences of the young doctors' strike. He pointed out that the death rate was also recorded in the Welsh region, where the doctors' strike did not take place. At the present time, the British Medical Association is calling for an increase in doctors' wages by 35% in order to bring them back to the level of 2008, but British Health Minister Steve Barclay described these demands as "unrealistic". The young doctors staged a strike from 13 to 15 March, but were unable to reach an agreement with the British government on a wage increase. At that time, more than 175,000 hospital appointments and surgeries were cancelled.
This week, the Young British Doctors organized a new strike for 4 days.
Preliminary assessments indicate that due to the new strike, more than 350,000 planned hospital appointments and surgeries will be postponed or cancelled.
Britain has witnessed in recent months a wave of strikes against the backdrop of record inflation in the country. Mass protests are taking place in Britain with the participation of railway employees, lawyers, airport employees, postal workers and other sectors.
Okaz (London)
