Junior Doctors Strike- Credit: Emily Goddard

Junior doctors are staging a forty-eight-hour strike following a row with the government over new contracts.

This comes after Health minister Jeremy Hunt imposed new terms to the doctors’ contracts.

These include the removal of overtime payments for those working between 7 am to 5 pm on Saturdays.

Also, the British Medical Association (BMA) wanted a 50 per cent increase in pay for those working over the weekend.

But, ministers agreed to offer only 30 per cent, and that is for those who regularly work on Saturdays.

This strike is being criticised by the government which says that it might jeopardise patients’ health.

But, the walk-out is planned to not include the emergency services.

Zainab Aboud has been a junior doctor for eight years and is now working at Whips Cross Hospital.

She would not be on duty today, but in support of the strike, she is on the picket line.

Zainab explains why the junior doctors are so angry.

She describes what her working hours are now like:

One of the imposed terms and conditions of the new contracts are working extended hours over the weekend.

Zainab states the reasons why doctors oppose these new contracts:

The recent strike has led to five-thousand operations across England being cancelled.

These cancellations have sparked a debate on whether doctors should strike or not.

Sam Cooke from Wembley believes that doctors should not strike:

On the other hand, Alex Jackson, an MA journalism student at Goldsmiths University of London, backs up the strike:

Under the new contracts, Saturdays 7 am to 5 pm will be regarded as a normal working day.

The talks may continue, but until they do, two more strikes are planned to take place in April.