There's more disruption across public hospitals in New South Wales, with thousands of doctors striking for a second day in their stand-off with the state government over a pay dispute.
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00:00More than three and a half thousand doctors walked off the job in the first 24 hours of this three-day strike action.
00:08It's meant that 370 surgeries had to be cancelled and more than 480 cancer patients went without chemotherapy.
00:15The situation is expected to be much the same today and those who need to go to emergency departments are warned to wait longer than usual as many of these hospitals do become bed blocked.
00:24You know this is really uncomfortable for us as doctors to not be in that building looking after our patients and our families.
00:33And so you know we've had to, we've kept quiet for a long time to be honest and I think it's gotten to the point particularly as senior staff that we're seeing our junior staff get more and more burnt out more and more early in their career.
00:48And that's not good for the community because we need skilled doctors and clinicians in the public health system.
00:55Here at St George Hospital today hundreds rallied out the front before they marched towards New South Wales Premier Chris Min's office which is around a kilometre around the road.
01:03Many hoisting placards with their demands along the way before rallying and protesting outside the front for around 30 minutes or so demanding a 30% pay increase over the first year and 3% over the following years.
01:16Yes this figure of a 30% pay disparity between doctors in New South Wales and the rest of the country is relevant but we're asking for pay parity over a reasonable amount of time.
01:26The ministry has kept claiming we want a 30% pay increase overnight. It's not true. We want to work towards closing this gap. But more importantly is modernising our conditions.
01:37Many of the doctors I spoke to today say that they are apologetic about the cancellation of some procedures and extended wait times however they say the 3 day cancellation period and extended wait times pales in contrast to 18 month long wait lists.
01:50I think no doctor wants to disadvantage a patient and certainly I don't want to disadvantage a single individual in the course of taking this action.
02:00But already we are stretched, elective wait lists are already through the roof and it's not, if we don't take action, 18 months of negotiations have not, you know, have not been met in good faith.
02:15Both the doctors union, ASMOF and the New South Wales government will be hoping to go back to the bargaining table today and strike a deal to bring this strike action to an end.
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