Editorial | Seek help on hospital dispute

It’s inexplicable that after four years, Shaggy’s foundation and the managers of the Bustamante Hospital for Children haven’t found the ingenuity to settle how J$100 million raised by the entertainer for the paediatric facility should be deployed in the interest of sick children.

When parties become entrenched in their positions and believe that intransigence rests only with the other side, it becomes harder to resolve problems on their own. It might be sensible in the circumstances for Shaggy and the hospital’s governors to ask an experienced, independent facilitator to quietly help them navigate the dispute. We are sure someone with the requisite expertise would do so pro bono. As of now, the guns in this Mexican standoff are aimed, ultimately, at the heads of children.

Shaggy, whose given name is Orville Burrell, is a sophisticated and highly accomplished dancehall entertainer who reaches global audiences. His legion of contacts in the international music industry has allowed him to woo big names to perform at his Shaggy and Friends concerts to raise money for charity, primarily the Bustamante Hospital. The last of these was in 2018.

Insofar as this newspaper understands the issue, the money raised from that concert was to supply five beds for a new intensive care unit (ICU) at the hospital. That was an agreement, apparently, between the hospital’s management and the Shaggy Make a Difference Foundation (SMADF).

Subsequently, it seems, a new board, with a new chairman, had a change of priorities. According to Kenny Benjamin, the hospital’s chairman, a new cardiac wing was built at the facility and came with an intensive care unit with five beds. This made the specialised ICU that SMADF planned to kit out “no longer urgent”.

CRUX OF THE STANDOFF

Instead, Mr Benjamin, and apparently the health ministry, would like the money spent on equipment for new wards and/or a dormitory/sleepover facility for the parents of children at the hospital.

Shaggy and his team, including his wife, Rebecca Packer, who manages the foundation, aren’t enamoured with the proposal. Two things have emerged in this regard:

· They have concerns about the legality of diverting the money to projects other than that for which it was specifically raised; and

· They have wallops of distrust of Government and are not inclined to allow any state institution to get its hands directly on any donated cash. SMADF’s preference is to purchase equipment and deliver it to the facility.

SMADF’s position on the latter point isn’t unique. In Jamaica, there is wide distrust of Government.

With respect to the first concern, that appears to rest on Section 30 (1) of the Charities Act, which prevents a charitable organisation from altering its “charitable purpose” without the written approval of the regulatory authority. This stipulation, on the face of it, appears to refer to the intention of a registered charity to operate in an area other than that for which it was established – from among 14 broad areas set out in the law’s First Schedule – rather than specific allocation of resources. Among the things for which a charity can be registered is the “advancement of health and the saving of lives”.

There may, however, be other legal and regulatory limitations, or SMADF’s by-laws, that would make shifting the money problematic.

Shaggy and others have also made the point that people who paid expensively to attend the concert, and those who performed for free, did so on the basis that the proceeds were earmarked for the specific purpose of buying equipment for an ICU. They, therefore, have an interest in any change of plan.

OBLIGATION TO ‘FRIENDS’

According to Shaggy, his ‘friends’ in the project are, essentially, appalled by the turn of events. We sense a perception of a grab for resources by a state institution and resistance by people who tend to be wary and sceptical, if not totally distrustful, of governments.

Further, Shaggy believes that the episode has been an attack on his character, rather than posited as the SMADF’s effort to safeguard people’s gifts. He is doubtful about hosting future events to raise money. That would be unfortunate.

Beyond his own abilities as an entertainer, Shaggy has the connections, organisational talent, and the charisma that preordain his charity concerts as successes. The children of Jamaica, or anyone who SMADF helps, shouldn’t lose that.

Everyone involved in the Bustamante Hospital issue should, therefore, step back a bit, take stock of their positions, and try to discern areas of common ground. They should understand, too, that there would be nothing demeaning in asking for outside help to guide them through frank discussions – without rancour.

It can’t be beyond the capacities of all parties to fashion an arrangement that makes sense for the children of Jamaica, to whom they are all clearly committed.