Miss England to resume job as doctor amid coronavirus crisis after returning home from overseas charity work
Miss England winner and junior doctor with the NHS, Dr Bhasha Mukherjee, has reportedly returned to the UK to assist the nation's healthcare workers amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Mukherjee, from Derby, was reportedly taking a break from the medical field to pursue charity work after she won the beauty pageant in 2019.
The 24-year-old was left stuck in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb coronavirus spread in the region. However, she made an appeal to the Foreign Office in the UK and the British High Commission in India assisted her in finding a flight back home.
Mukherjee, born in Kolkata, India, moved to Derby at the age of nine. She said that she wanted to "go straight to work" after learning about the coronavirus pandemic.
"I wanted to come back home. I wanted to come and go straight to work," she told CNN. Mukherjee, a junior doctor, who worked at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, returned to England last week.
British Deputy High Commissioner Nick Low, after seeing her online appeal to come back home, secured her a flight back to the UK via Frankfurt. Low later took to Twitter and said, "Bhasha, the Almighty sprinkled stardust on you the day you were born. Can't wait to see your vlog- there's a career on screen waiting for you. But Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, needs you and I know that's where to want to be. Glad to have helped you on your way!"
The doctor is now reportedly ready to help her colleagues combat the deadly COVID-19. "It was incredible the way the whole world was celebrating all key workers, and I wanted to be one of those, and I knew I could help," she told the outlet. "There's no better time for me to be Miss England and helping England at a time of need."
Mukherjee began her first shift as a junior doctor in August 2019, merely hours after she was crowned Miss England. The 24-year-old had flown to India with her mother last month to carry out a four-week humanitarian tour of the country on behalf of Coventry Mercia Lions Club. The Indian government, with the worsening pandemic, imposed a countrywide lockdown in March, canceling all flights. Mukherjee, who had a flight scheduled for March 21, was unable to board.
"It was such an anxiety-provoking situation. I thought how am I going to get home and back to work," she said. "There were hundreds of people just standing there in the airport with their bags desperately trying to get on a flight and leave. I was just sat on the floor crying. Everyone was crying, desperately trying to get home. I felt like a refugee."
The young doctor then traveled to her aunt's house in Kolkata to self-isolate and began contacting Pilgrim Hospital to ask if she could resume her post at the facility. She also sought assistance from the UK government to help her fly back to her home.
Coronavirus cases in the UK have crossed 52,000 while over 5,000 deaths have been recorded. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who also has COVID-19, was shifted to an intensive care unit on April 6.