Striking Doctors "Acting Recklessly": UK Government After Latest Walkout

Junior doctors -- physicians who are not senior specialists but who may still have years of experience -- make up about half of the doctors in UK hospitals.

Hospital doctors in England on Friday launched their latest walkout as the government said their strike to demand a 35-percent pay increase served "only to harm patients".

The four-day stoppage comes with health chiefs estimating that the repeated industrial action had cost the publicly funded health service £1 billion ($1.2 billion).

Junior doctors -- physicians who are not senior specialists but who may still have years of experience -- make up about half of the doctors in UK hospitals.