Staff from the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association have withdrawn their services until 8pm this evening but will be providing emergency cover for urgent cases.
The action has resulted in hundreds of appointments being cancelled at hospitals across the city and county. People are also being advised not to present at Emergency Departments unless they have a genuine emergency.
Eileen Hurley is a medical scientist and is one of the people taking part in today’s protest.
She told RedFM News that more and more medical scientists are taking up jobs in the private sector:
"Things are awful to be honest. I've been working since 2006, I'm really passionate about my profession and my job but people are starting to get disheartened. It's so soul destroying to see the young, ambitious highly skilled workers coming in from college, and then they're leaving us. We're losing them to pharmaceutical companies because our conditions and our pay are just so poor at this stage."
