A JUNIOR doctor who is set to join picket lines today said he is part of 'the most demoralised junior doctor workforce in a generation'.

Zeshan (CORR) Qureshi, 31, is a paediatrician who trained in Dorchester in 2009, and later at Great Ormand Street in London.

Dr Qureshi has spoken out as junior doctors across the country stage the first ever full walk-out from hospital in the history of the NHS today and tomorrow.

Dorset County Hospital has said it is doing all it can to keep the impact to a minimum but 312 outpatient appointments and 11 operations have been cancelled.

Dr Qureshi said he is from a family of doctors and medics and his own father was so dedicated that, while training in Pakistan, he read in the evening under the light of streetlamps because there was no electricity in his home.

Dr Qureshi said: "There is a lot of anger on both sides. The junior doctors are being called militant, lazy and money-grabbing, the ministers are being called out of touch.

"My view is that the contract is unfair, and discriminatory against those who work part time. There's a clause that says the government reserves the right to change the terms at any time.

"Pay was frozen several years ago, resulting in a real time pay cut of 10 to 15 per cent."

Dr Qureshi, now a paediatric registrar at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, also pointed to the 'much wider' issue of patient safety, and believes the contract would have a negative impact.

"A seven day NHS pledge has been made, with no credible plan as to how it might be achieved. The contract will result in tired, overworked doctors, many of which will be more than likely to leave the country before even signing pen to paper."

The Patient Safety Association has said it is 'glad to see the contract imposition being challenged'.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the strike will 'put lives at risk' but Dr Qureshi said at his hospital, paediatric services are being covered by nine consultants who he described as 'the best of the best'.

Yesterday, calls were made on Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and break the stalemate between junior doctors and the government.

On Saturday, a coalition of MPs including Labour shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander urged Mr Hunt to test the new work contract in a small number of trusts rather than impose it across England without the support of the BMA.