Government condemns "irresponsible" English five-day doctor strike

British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday condemned as "totally irresponsible" a plan by English junior doctors to hold a five-day strike after the industry's trade union escalated a long-running dispute with the government. The British Medical Association (BMA) trade union on Wednesday backed plans for a full walkout of junior doctors from 0700 GMT (8.00 a.m. BST) to 1600 GMT for five days from Sept. 12, the longest in the near 70-year history of the National Health Service. Junior doctors, a term which covers recent medical school graduates right through to doctors who have been working for well over a decade, have staged a series of walk-outs over a new contract the government plans to impose next month.