A newborn baby died on Wednesday after being delivered in a toilet in a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra, PTI reported. The father claimed that the hospital staff refused to attend to his wife while she was in labour.

“We pleaded to the staff at the hospital to admit my wife but they refused to do anything and asked us to wait till the doctors arrived,” Jagnayak Singh, a resident of Gothani village, told PTI. “My wife went to the bathroom at the reception in pain, where she delivered the child. The child fell into the toilet and died.”

Residents said the family members and the hospital staff tried to pull out the newborn but by the time they could do so, it was too late.

Chief Medical Officer Ashwini Kumar denied allegations that the hospital refused to attend to the woman in labour. “The woman was seen by a lady doctor who told her that there was no heartbeat of the foetus,” he added. “The woman was asked to wait for an ultrasound to clear the situation.”

Kumar said a panel of doctors are investigating the matter and strict action will be taken against those found guilty.