Miss England on NHS duty

By Amit Roy

BHASHA MUKHERJEE, who won the Miss England beauty contest in July 2019, should have stepped down this summer, but her reign has been extended to the summer of 2021 because her successor could not be selected this year.

The 24-year-old is a jun­ior doctor who was doing a tour of India as Miss Eng­land when the panemic be­gan. Despite the ban on air travel, she somehow man­aged to get back to her hos­pital duties when the NHS appealed for all hands on deck. She has since been working tirelessly on Covid duties at Boston Pilgrim Hospital in Lincolnshire and Derby Royal Hospital.

“It’s an honour to contin­ue serving my country dur­ing the Covid pandemic as well as being able to do it as Miss England,” said Bhasha. “I’ve still been doing plenty of charity work remotely.

“It’s a shame the Miss England contest was post­poned again but I’m de­lighted to be their longest serving winner.

“It’s bitter-sweet in a way as the circumstances aren’t ideal – it’s hard to celebrate when you’re seeing Covid numbers rising in your hos­pital. We are right next to Nottingham which has the highest rate in the country, so we have staff and pa­tients coming between us and the hub of the virus.”

Incidentally, Bhasa fol­lows in the footsteps of Rei­ta Faria, the first Indian to win Miss World in 1966. She didn’t go into Bollywood but became a doctor. Reita, now 77, and her endocri­nologist husband David Powell are settled in Ireland and have two children and five grandchildren.