The junior doctor who was ignored by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt as he tried to question him over the new contracts has warned doctors will quit the NHS.
Speaking on Sky News as junior doctors began their first 48-hour strike in the ongoing dispute with the Government, Dr Dagan Lonsdale said the real danger was not industrial action but doctors leaving.
Dr Lonsdale said medics would be forced to quit because they couldn't work under the new contract Mr Hunt is going to impose.
He said: "I don't think the danger for patients in the NHS is more strikes.
"The real danger is doctors leaving because they can't work in the current system."
Dr Lonsdale was captured on camera last month walking after Mr Hunt and tackling him over the new contract only to have his question ignored by the Health Secretary.
He subsequently disclosed he was also considering leaving the NHS because of the conditions imposed by Mr Hunt, the row over which centres on a cut to enhanced pay for weekend working.
Mr Hunt says the conditions are necessary to deliver a truly seven-day NHS, which was promised in the Conservative manifesto.
Dr Lonsdale apologised to patients for the strike but said that "what is being done by Jeremy Hunt could put patients at risk".
He added: "We are at a really crucial point here where we need people to realise that doctors aren't on strike just because of pay.
"They are out there because they are worried about long-term effects of this contract on patients in the NHS and the only way forward is to negotiate with doctors who do the job on the frontline."
An Ipsos MORI poll for the BBC found 65% of people support junior doctors and most people think the Government is to blame for the dispute.
NHS England figures from 228 organisations, of which 154 are acute hospital trusts, show that 2,077 inpatient procedures have been cancelled due to Wednesday and Thursday's industrial action alongside 3,187 day case operations and procedures.
The strike, the third by junior doctors in the dispute over the contract, does not affect emergency care.
Johann Malawana, the BMA's junior doctor chairman, said: "We deeply regret disruption to patients, and have given trusts as much notice as possible to plan ahead, but the Government has left junior doctors with no choice."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "Patients have so far seen more than 19,000 operations cancelled as a result of the BMA's irresponsible and unjustified industrial action."
Two further 48-hour strikes are planned from 8am on 8 April and 26 April.
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