Majority of Britons back junior doctors as five-day strike looms: poll

Over 57 percent of the Britons say they support the junior doctors' strike as the country braces itself for the coming five-day-long labor withdrawal, according to the result of a Sky Data Snap Poll released on Friday.

The poll shows that 57 percent of the respondents support medics while the others oppose the strike, the longest in the history of the British National Health Service which is one of the world's largest publicly funded health services.

The strike, which is scheduled between Sept. 12 to Sept. 18, is expected to have 100,000 operations canceled and 1 million hospital appointments postponed, according to the UK health authority.

The latest poll shows that the number of the supporters for the strike has decreased over the past months. In February, over 70 percent of the pollsters said they are in favor of the strike.

It also shows that voters aged 55 or over are opposed to the strikes by 53 percent to 47 percent, though there is stronger support for the junior doctors' position among younger voters.

The figure came one day after British Prime Minister Theresa May accused the British Medical Association, representing junior doctors, of "playing politics" and the country's Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt slammed the planned strike as "devastating" and will lead to "absolute misery" for patients. Endit