A woman in Odisha delivered a baby near a drain outside a government hospital on Friday after the facility’s officials refused to admit her as she did not have the adequate documents, PTI reported. The Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput has denied the allegation.

After the news spread, the hospital admitted the baby girl to the special neo-natal care unit. Doctors said the baby and the woman were in a stable condition.

The woman, a tribal from the Janiguda village, came to the hospital on Friday with her mother and sister to see her husband who had been there since Wednesday with fever. However, she developed labour pain and went to the gynaecology ward asking to be admitted, but the authorities refused, the woman’s mother said.

“The medical staff refused to admit my daughter as we had not brought the prescription and required documents,” she said. “My daughter delivered the child near the drain after she was refused admission.”

However, the hospital authorities denied the charge. “The woman delivered the child while answering nature’s call,” said Chief District Medical Officer of Koraput, Lalit Mohan Rath. “She had not approached any hospital staff either for medical check-up or for admission.”