Fashion brings cheer to medics at Gulf Medical University event

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) has brought about a landfall of inventions and how about piecing the immaculately white lab coat with the imagination of the visual artist to continually spread the story of positive transformation, hope and victory.

It happened as it would go beyond yesterday, Wednesday, when 35 healthcare professionals and their up-and-coming colleagues, gamely strutted on the catwalk with the powerful messages against the mutating stubborn virus that had so far claimed 4,194,385 with 177,735,719 recoveries – globally – as of press time.

“I am very impressed. It is my first time to see the coats. I am now thinking of working on a project that would have all the students and the doctors here in the university and in all the hospitals (of the Thumbay Group) create their own designs with their white coats,” Gulf Medical University (GMU) chancellor Prof. Hossam Hamdy told Gulf Today after the first-of-a-kind “Walking Art--White Coat Fashion Show by Healthcare Heroes.”

Venue was the GMU-College of Healthcare Management & Economics in Al Jurf, Ajman with guests of honour Consulate General of India (Dubai)-Visa & Community Affairs Consul Uttam Chand and Bu Abdullah Group chairman Dr. Bu Abdullah, a philanthropist.

The fashion show was the first physical event of the Paintbrush Art Community, said Dubai-based painter Sonal Purohit who formed the group in Jan. 2020 for online and physical exhibitions. It happened following a week-long preparation as the GMU administration had also been looking for ways on how Medicine and the Arts could be meshed together amidst the pandemic.

On Wednesday, Purohit, Anjini Laitu, Lalita Sharma, Sughat Priadarshi, Sana Moin Ahmed, Varsha Saju, Rishu Gosain Roy, Jyoti Singhala, Anil Kamble, Afsan Qureshi, Adelina Maria, Prabita Rajesh, Mohammad Wadood, Ahmed Al Awadi, Jasmine Rizwi, Anjini, Iti Sethi, Pari Sagar, Akshay Arora, Archana, Sonal Madan, Nupur, and Shoba Iyer, showed how, in their own way, may brighten up the dismal environment, while giving tribute to the capable primary force against the SARS-CoV2.

Surreal artist for 15 years into mixed media and acrylic Pari Sagar brought to the white coat a water lily or lotus. The dainty yet sturdy plant is the calm and serenity of the medical doctor.

Architect by profession and into painting since childhood Prabita Rajesh had “a dove with the peace symbol on the front side of the coat while at the back were a flock of birds in different colours. Like Sagar, it was her first time to paint on a lab coat.

An art teacher who has loved doodling and sketching since childhood, Anil Kamble symbolised the confrontation and the triumph over the global disaster, with the Tic-Tac-Toe cube.

Hamdy, who mentioned the Humanities Science course as part of the GMU curriculum, explained the origin of the initiative: “Medicine is a social science because it is about human beings. Whether the patient, the healthcare professional, or the student (who would become a doctor, nurse, among the other health professions). It is all about the relationship between human beings. The relationship which has been affected by the COVID-19 in a huge way. On the other hand, art is an expression of feelings and emotions in different ways like music, dance and painting. At GMU, being an institution involved in patient care, research and education, we found that art is a very strong weapon against the misery which could happen from serious diseases like cancer or a pandemic like the COVID which has been disturbing us for over a year now.”

Among the 35 GMU ramp models, Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery (MBBS) sophomore student Mohamed Ashraf already expressed his desire to stylise his white coat. He took it as fun and a good channel for positive vibes which the world needs badly. Medical Imaging second year student Mohamed Umar got the idea of becoming a radiologist and ramp/commercial model at the same time. Alongside Nouf Al Sharif and Abeer Chowdhury, MBBS and Associate Degree in Pre-Clinical Sciences students respectively, Ashraf and Umar signed up for the fashion show for they saw it as the unique approach to combining Medicine and the Arts in one.