Madonna names Malawi hospital unit after daughter Mercy

02 Oct 2016 |

Madonna has named the hospital unit she is building in Malawi after her adopted daughter Mercy James.The pop icon, who adopted Mercy and David from the African nation, visited the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in July (16) to oversee the construction of a new children's wing she is helping to fund with the help of her Raising Malawi Foundation, which she created in 2006 - the same year she adopted David. Madonna said she is helping build "the first pediatric surgery and intensive care unit in any Malawi hospital". The unit, which will reportedly open next year (17), will consist of three operating rooms, a 50-bed ward and a playroom.She has now revealed it has been named after Mercy, who she adopted in 2009.

On Instagram, she shared pictures of the construction taking shape at the hospital and wrote, "Here is the almost finished building of the Mercy James pediatric Surgery Unit in Malawi!" The Raising Malawi Instagram account shared a picture of Mercy and stated that the unit's full title will be the Mercy James Institute of Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care. Madonna previously ran a fundraising campaign through website Omaze in September (16) for her charity and she is performing at another benefit for Raising Malawi at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida on 2 December (16). She shared the poster, in which she is dressed as a clown, on the social media site. It reads, "An evening of music, art, and mischief & live performance with Madonna." Writing about the fundraising, she explains, "We need to fill it (the unit) with Equipment, train surgeons and medical personnel and create an endowment to sustain it in the 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."