Madonna names QECH ward after Mercy James
American pop star Madonna has named an intensive care unit (ICU) her charity Raising Malawi is constructing at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre after her Malawian adopted daughter Mercy James.
Writing on her Facebook and Instagram walls on Saturday, Madonna referred to the paediatric surgery ward as ‘Mercy James Paediatric Surgery Unit’.
Wrote Madonna: “Here is the almost-finished building of the Mercy James Paediatric Surgery Unit in Malawi. Now we need to fill it with equipment, train surgeons and medical personnel and create an endowment to sustain it in years to come.
“We are kicking this off at Art Basel with Art Auction and Tears of a Clown. If ticket prices are too high there are many other ways to help. Please go to www.raisingmalawi.org and find out. Thanks for your support.”
Apart from the ICU, the Mercy James Paediatric Surgery Unit, expected to open early next year, will also have three operating theatres for children’s surgery, a day clinic and 50-bed ward.
Madonna announced in November 2014 that Raising Malawi would be constructing the paediatric ward as one way of reducing shortage of surgical paediatric wards in the country.
In addition to serving more children, the new facility will become a training centre of excellence for southern Africa, with more local doctors acquiring the skills needed to perform paediatric surgery, according to a post on Raising Malawi website.
Madonna first came to Malawi in 2006 when she adopted a then one-year-old David Banda at an orphanage in Mchinji.
She returned in 2009 and adopted her second Malawian child, Mercy Chifundo James. n
