Unicef is set to discontinue its equipment maintenance support for Special Care Neonatal Units (SCANUs) from September, a move that may disrupt lifesaving services for newborns unless the authorities act promptly, say experts and health officials.
They suggest the authorities urgently come up with a transition plan to ensure uninterrupted services, noting that the health sector is already struggling with a shortage of technical staff.
Last month, the UN agency informed the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of its decision to withdraw the support it has provided over the past 12 years through a third-party provider.
Currently, SCNAUs are available at 60 hospitals across 52 districts, providing specialised support to sick and premature newborns, shows DGHS data.
Prominent paediatrician Prof Mohammod Shahidullah said that out of 30 to 32 lakh babies born in Bangladesh every year, more than three lakh or around 10 percent are premature. Besides, many children suffer from serious infections, and all of them require SCANU services.
He said the health authorities have the capacity to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of Unicef’s support, but they must develop a transition plan in consultation with the UN agency.
The Unicef decision comes at a time when a significant number of medical devices at 60 SCANUs remain out of order.
According to a DGHS assessment in mid-2024, at least 802 or 20 percent of 4,159 pieces of equipment at the SCANUs were non-functional with 209 deemed to be beyond repair.
Besides, 213 pieces of equipment were more than a decade old, said the DGHS report based on an inspection team’s findings.
UNICEF’S withdrawal, challanges
In a letter to DGHS on July 16, the Unicef Bangladesh office said, “After reviewing our progress and aligning with the new country programme direction, we regret to inform you that Unicef will no longer continue the current equipment maintenance support for SCANU and Neonatal Stabilisation units (NSU) after the end of the existing contract with the third-party provider. This contract will conclude on September 30, 2025.”
The UN agency also suggested exploring government-oriented services in collaboration with NEMEMW & TC, an agency under the health ministry, for carrying out maintenance at SCANUs.
The National Electro-Medical Equipment Maintenance Workshop & Training Center (NEMEMW & TC) provides maintenance and repair services — mostly through third-party providers — for medical equipment in around 700 government hospitals across the country.
Contacted, Zainal Abedin Tito, line director of Hospital Service Management of DGHS, said the hospitals concerned were directed to take necessary steps to ensure uninterrupted services at SCANUs.
Technicians at the hospitals will carry out routine maintenance, and in case of major problems, NEMEMW & TC will assist them, he told this correspondent on August 11.
However, at least two DGHS officials said SCANU equipment is highly sophisticated and requires regular maintenance. Given the shortage of technical staff at public hospitals, Unicef’s departure may disrupt the services.
They noted that NEMEMW & TC itself, which doesn’t have divisional-level offices, is running with inadequate manpower. At least 58 of the 95 posts at the agency remain vacant.
Asked, Jayanta Kumar Mukhopadhaya, chief technical manager of NEMEMW & TC, said they have yet to receive any directive on SCANU maintenance.
“If the authorities ask us to do it, we will need some time to hire a vendor to provide the services,” he told The Daily Star on August 19.
Prof Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser for the health ministry, said the government has decided to maintain SCANUs with its own funds.
Funding for SCANU maintenance was incorporated in the interim government’s transitional plan as a “critically important task.”
As part of the plan, the government took up two projects to complete the unfinished tasks of the Fourth Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme that ended in June 2024.
However, the projects are yet to be approved.
“The approval may take some time, but I don’t think SCANU services will be interrupted,” said Sayedur.
What UNICEF says
Contacted, Rana Flowers, Unicef representative to Bangladesh, said Unicef, together with its partners, has supported the establishment and expansion of SCANUs and Neonatal Stabilisation Units (NSUs) since 2011.
Unicef engaged a specialised agency to deliver preventive and corrective maintenance nationwide. In recent years, significant progress has been made to institutionalise this work, she said, noting that DGHS recruited over 200 biomedical technicians in 2022.
With Unicef’s technical guidance, training modules and guidelines on medical equipment maintenance have been developed, and 60 technicians had already been trained by the end of 2024, she pointed out.
“With a growing pool of government biomedical technicians now deployed across all districts, the time is right for DGHS to take full ownership of equipment maintenance, ensuring sustainability in the long run,” she told The Daily Star on August 19.
This transition reflects UNICEF’s long-standing approach: to catalyse innovation, build systems, and then enable government leadership and sustainability, she added. The Daily Star