A nurse in Dubai has been nominated for a $250,000 (Dh981,500) award as she went above and beyond her duty to help the patients during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Indian mother-of-two, Jasmine Mohammed Sharaf, was chosen from an international list of around 24,000 contenders who were in a chance of winning the Aster Guardian Global Nursing Award.
Among the ten finalists, a selection committee will judge her voluntary work outside her nursing field.
Sharaf, who is the only provider for her family after her husband lost his job during COVID-19, used to visit workers with low income to provide food and PPE kits and completed health checks in their homes who were isolated or not able to visit hospitals.
The 42-year-old Sharaf even used her Toyota Yaris as a makeshift ambulance and took patients to hospitals for checkups to lessen the stress on emergency services.
Although Sharaf herself has diabetes and asthma, which makes her more exposed to a serious Covid infection during the beginning of the pandemic.
Sharaf has resided in the UAE for the last 19 years and is working at the Al Khawaneej Health Centre. She lives in Sharjah with her husband and two children. Her son is also a medical student, aged 20, while her daughter is 9.
The night shifts of her duty used to finish around 3 pm. Still, instead of going home, she would go out to deprived communities around Deira, Sharjah, Al Quoz and Rashidiya to help deliver on-the-ground care and pandemic updates.
Although everyone was in lockdown, her role as a frontline worker allowed her to move freely in the city.
Sharaf used to carry an oximeter to do Covid checks on individuals showing symptoms; if found, she took them to the hospital in her own car. She went to several houses to check on reported cases and helped people isolate themselves in their homeplace to lessen the risk of spreading the infection to others.
Finalists were selected among 24000 nominees and executed independently by consultants Ernst and Young and a jury through a stringent review procedure.
Applications were first evaluated to create a shorter list of 181, and it came down to 41 after these top 10 finalists were announced.
Nominees were asked to give their names based on four areas of contribution: research and innovation, leadership, community service and patient care.
The winner of the same will be announced on May 12, on the occasion of International Nurses Day.