New Delhi: While the world is battling a pandemic – novel coronavirus, Indian-origin Miss England Bhasha Mukherjee has decided to put away her crown and sash for a while and wear her uniform and treat patients suffering from novel coronavirus (COVID-19). 23-year-old Bhasha Mukherjee who won the beauty pageant on August 1, 2019 is also a qualified doctor and in the time of crisis she has decided to return to the National Health Service frontlines as a doctor. Talking to NDTV about what prompted her to take the plunge of, Ms Mukherjee said,
Guilt; I felt guilty knowing that I could help, knowing that my colleagues are working so hard at the frontline and feeling that almost 5,000 retired doctors have returned to work. In a time when everybody is putting in whatever they can to help out, I felt now is the time for me to go.
Further talking about the current crisis, availability of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and the pressure on doctors, Ms Mukherjee said,
What I am scared about is, if I am going to make a mistake and cause harm. Because the problem is there is a lot of pressure on doctors, a lot of inexperience and exhaustion as well because we are dealing with something we have never dealt with before. There is not enough knowledge to go around. We are being given extra responsibilities something that we aren't used to handling. Of course, lack of PPEs, equipment, resources, manpower paired with fragile patients makes it a very stressful environment. Under such a situation, it's very easy to make decisions and choices that can harm your patients, colleagues and yourself and that's what I fear a lot.
Recently Ms Mukherjee was stranded in India and through a chartered rescue flight she returned to England to help her fellow colleagues. Though Ms Mukherjee will officially start working as a junior doctor at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston from next week, she informed that other junior doctors are working 13 hours a day, seven days a week.
Meanwhile, Ms Mukherjee has launched an online petition calling for at least a 50 per cent discount on hospital accommodation. The petition highlights the difference in the monthly rent of a shared house with all facilities and hospital accommodation. In her per petition, Ms Mukherjee said,
I am not asking for a freebie. All I ask is for hospital accommodation providers like Progress Living and others around the country to match the market! Give us a 50 per cent discount for the 50 per cent of every 24 hours we're slogging at the frontline, risking a 50 per cent chance of contracting COVID-19 and 50 per cent of losing our lives.
Giving an example of how India is treating its healthcare pworkers, Ms Mukherjee questioned and said,
Why when there are countries like India, who are putting staff up in the empty hotels for free to incentivise and reward their hard work?
The petition addressed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Progress Living has attracted over 400 of the 500 target signatures within days.
