Fed up with stagnant pay, thousands of doctors across more than 30 public hospitals in the Australian state of New South Wales are striking for three days, sparking fears an already stretched health system will plunge into chaos.
The doctors are seeking a one-off, 30% salary increase as the government maintains its offer of a 10.5% rise across three years.
First-year doctors earn about $A38 ($NZ41) an hour but can collect $45 per hour in Queensland, before considering penalty rates and extra leave. The NSW doctors also want better work conditions, such as a guaranteed 10-hour break between shifts.
The union representing doctors, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation, said the action from early on Tuesday until late on Thursday night was necessary to address critical doctor shortages.
"Doctors across this state are working 16-hour shifts, day after day, with little rest and no end in sight," union head Nicholas Spooner said.
"They are exhausted, they are leaving, and they are not being replaced.
"We want to be at work, caring for our patients, but the system is not safe."
More than 100,000 patients are on the list for elective surgeries in NSW, where patients are shockingly waiting up to three days to see a doctor in emergency departments, with a workforce unable to cope with the demand.
"We have waited 18 months for meaningful negotiations and all we've received is spin and no genuine commitment to fixing the problems doctors and patients face in NSW," Dr Spooner said.
He said emergency departments and critical care units would remain safely staffed, with only non-urgent procedures postponed.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park insisted the strike's impacts would be far-reaching, with surgeries cancelled and a reduced staff on shift.
Pouncing on the gridlock between the state government and the latest medical professionals up in arms over their pay, opposition spokesperson Kellie Sloane said a mass walkout of doctors in NSW was "unprecedented".
"We are seeing the worst industrial chaos in decades," she told 2GB Sydney on Monday.
"We have doctors striking, nurses picketing, psychiatrists are in dispute or either flat-out pushed ... so this is ... a government that's lost control."
