LONDON 

Junior doctors in England began a five-day strike Thursday over an ongoing pay dispute, making it the 11th walkout in 20 months.

Ahead of the general election on July 4, junior doctors in England began a five-day walkout over an ongoing pay dispute.

Thousands of junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) began a 120-hour strike on Thursday at 7 a.m. local time (0600GMT) and will last until July 2.

Announcing the strike last month, the union said they decided to take action as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's continued refusal to meet junior doctors' demands for a roadmap to restore pay lost over the last 15 years.

Striking doctors also rallied outside the Prime Minister's Office in Downing Street to protest the loss of their payments over the previous 15 years.

Speaking with Anadolu, Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the union's junior doctors committee, said doctors have lost 26% of their pay in the 15 years since the financial crisis.

He stressed that after the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis, doctors "have finally had enough."

"We've been patient for long enough. We've been waiting and we've been acting with good faith, but the goodwill has all gone. It's all evaporated, and now doctors are standing up for themselves and taking strike action," added Laurenson.

Comparing the doctors' salary structure in Canada and Australia, Laurenson said a fully qualified GP working in the UK may be paid between £60,000 ($75,800) and £90,000 ($113,700) a year, whereas in Canada, it could be up to £250,000 ($316,000) a year.

In Australia, he added, junior doctors are paid nearly three times of what junior doctors get in England.

"It's precisely because the international market is so competitive that doctors are deciding to go to those countries, particularly because after 14 years, it feels like there's no end to the sides of pay cuts," said Laurenson.

Also speaking with Anadolu, junior doctor Tom Rourke recalled that they are on strike for the 11th time in 20 months.

"We're just here for pay restoration back to the levels that were paid back in 2008, our work hasn't decreased from 2008 but our pay has gone down by over a third," he noted.

Rourke stressed that they are "not going anywhere," and will continue to strike and protest until their pay is restored.