LONDON: Junior doctors in England staged their first all-out strike on Tuesday in a bitter, deadlocked row with Prime Minister David Cameron’s government over pay and conditions.

The strike forced 13,000 operations and 113,000 appointments to be postponed by the National Health Service, which employs more than 50,000 junior doctors.

While there have been several walk-outs, this one affected hospital emergency care units for the first time, although senior doctors and nurses will still be on duty. Junior doctors are graduates with years of experience who have not yet completed their professional qualifications.

“Anything unprecedented like this places a significant pressure on the NHS,” Anne Rainsberry, National Incident Director for NHS England, told BBC radio.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2016