The reigning Miss England, who also happens to be a doctor specializing in respiratory medicine, sets her crown aside to serve in the frontlines amid the battle against COVID-19! Her inspiring decision has gone viral, with many people saying that she could have stayed away from the hospital because she had other things to do, but she didn’t.
Beauty with a Purpose
Bhasha Mukherjee won the Miss England crown last year. She represented the country at the Miss World pageant held in December 2019. While she didn’t win the Miss World crown, she remained as Miss England and has represented the country in various advocacies for Miss World.
Photo credit: Bhasha Mukherjee / Instagram
With Miss World having a slogan of “Beauty with a Purpose”, the beauty queens are expected to have advocacies of their own and do humanitarian work throughout their reign. This brought Mukherjee to many countries.
“I was invited to Africa, to Turkey, then to India, Pakistan and several other Asian countries to be an ambassador for various charity work,” Mukherjee shared.
But Mukherjee, who happens to be a doctor with Indian origin, decided that she will help in the frontlines after learning that many hospitals in England are overflowing with patients. There were just too many patients for too few doctors to handle, particularly at the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston where she used to work.
She quickly called the hospital’s management team, asking if she could go back to work in the frontlines.
“When you are doing all this humanitarian work abroad, you’re still expected to put the crown on, get ready… look pretty. I wanted to come back home. I wanted to come and go straight to work,” she said.
“I felt a sense of this is what I’d got this degree for and what better time to be part of this particular sector than now. 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. There’s no better time for me to be Miss England and helping England at a time of need.”
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What is Miss World?
Miss World is oldest running international beauty pageant and holds the motto, “Beauty with a Purpose.” It was launched in 1951 in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley. It is also part of the ‘Big 4’, a group of ‘the most important international beauty pageants’, alongside Miss Universe, Miss Earth, and Miss International.