LONDON, February 20 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of doctors in training across Britain have voted to go on strike next month, their union said on Monday, adding to a string of strikes by nurses and ambulance workers lobbying an already strained healthcare system. .

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents around 45,000 doctors-in-training in the UK, said 98% of those who took part in the vote voted to go on strike, adding that they would carry out a 72-hour layoff next month. The BMA did not provide a strike date.

The doctor-in-training agreed in 2019 to a 2% annual salary increase as part of a four-year agreement, but says that’s now not enough given much higher inflation.

“This vote demonstrates, without a doubt, the strength of feeling among the majority of UK medical trainees,” the BMA said. “We are frustrated, desperate and angry, and we have voted for thousands.”

The BMA describes trainee physicians as those who qualify in clinical training and have up to eight years of work experience as a hospital physician or up to three years in general medicine. They work under the supervision of a senior doctor.

UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay called the vote “deeply disappointing”.

“I have met with the BMA and other medical unions to discuss what is fair and affordable, as well as the broader concerns around conditions and workload. I want to continue to discuss how we can make the NHS a better place to work for everyone,” he said. said in a statement, using the abbreviation for National Health Service.

According to the BMA, medical interns have seen pay cuts of more than 25% in real terms since 2008, which has demoralized many of them and caused four in 10 to want to leave the profession, according to a recent survey.

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Another physicians’ union, the Association of Hospital Specialists and Consultants, has stated that its members have also voted in favor of the strike in a separate ballot. The strike on March 15 involved less than a thousand doctors.

The strike will increase pressure on Britain’s state-funded NHS, which is already reaching capacity due to unprecedented staff shortages and delays, and is now suffering a wave of disruptive strikes from health workers.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government argued that further wage increases would only lead to more inflation and that interest and mortgage rates would rise further.

More than 10,000 ambulance workers went on strike Monday, while the nurses’ union last week announced a new 48-hour strike starting March 1.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Muvija M; Edited in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)