Doctor-turned-Miss England feels 'useless' as she's stuck in India

Miss England Bhasha Mukherjee feels “completely useless” as she is stuck in India, unable to rejoin the NHS and assist personnel in battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

The doctor-turned-beauty queen, 24, who worked at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, was on a charity tour of India with the Coventry Mercia Lions, the Mail reported.

Bhasha, who had moved from India to Derby with her family at the age of nine, started work as a junior doctor last August.

Feeling “guilty” after learning about NHS personnel slogging it out, Bhasha booked a ticket back to the UK.

But, with the Indian government banning international flights, she was forced to self-isolate with extended family in Kolkata.

“I'm literally stuck in my room feeling completely useless,” she said.

“Everything started to change very rapidly [over the past week].

“I started getting emails from work asking me to return. I knew how badly I was needed so I emailed telling them I was willing to come back.”

The beauty queen said it would be “really helpful” if the UK government could help hundreds of British nationals stuck in India return home.

Bhasha and her mother, Mita, had managed to board a return flight, but it got grounded.

“I actually fell asleep because it was really early in the morning, but when I woke up an hour had gone by and we were still on the ground,” she said.

“It was such an anxiety provoking situation. I thought how am I going to get home and back to work.”

Bhasha 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 just sat on the floor crying,” she said. “Everyone was crying, desperately trying to get home. I felt like a refugee.”