SHAGGY says he wants, at least, an acre of land from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) to expand operations at the St Andrew-based Bustamante Hospital for Children’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The platinum-selling artiste was speaking with journalists at this week’s Monday Exchange at the head office on Beechwood Ave in St Andrew.
“The ICU is the big problem, right now. We have five beds in the ICU for the whole of Jamaica. If you look at the building itself and the ICU where everybody walks in, we can’t hold anything in there, it’s that small. So we have to expand the building, that’s where the challenge will be. We need more land, we’re on JDF land.
JDF have whole heap a land over there so mi a beg the General piece more of the land, ’cause we need another ward that we don’t have,” said Shaggy. “We want about, at least, an acre.”
According to Shaggy, the ICU has only five beds. The singer’s Make A Difference Foundation (SMADF) is aiming to add at least five more beds to the unit. Each bed costs approximately $100,000. In addition, he wants a shower facility for parents who travel from outside the Corporate Area and may overnight at the institution.
Tonight, Shaggy through his foundation will be hosting Shaggy and Friends biennial charity concert on the lawns of Jamaica House in St Andrew.
The line-up includes Sting, Wyclef Jean, Doug E Fresh, Fetty Wap, Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons, Third World, Chaka Demus and Pliers, and Shenseea. The concert, which was first held in 2009, has raised more $255 million for Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew
Founded in 1963, Bustamante Hospital for Children sees to an average of nearly 200 patients daily.
