Dr Tarun Adhikari attending to the mother, Saraswati, on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture

Krishnagar, Oct. 5: Doctors across the state may be attracting flak for neglecting patients, but a Naihati doctor was hailed as a hero for rescuing a woman who gave birth on a street after being refused admission to a maternity hospital.

Saraswati Ghosh, a resident of Bhatpara in North 24-Parganas, bordering Nadia ? about 45 km from Calcutta ? was taken by her sister Lakshmi around 11 last night to Matri Sadan, a maternity hospital run by the Naihati municipality, after she experienced labour pain.

Lakshmi said Saraswati, 22, used to visit Naihati State General Hospital. ?But last night, it was an emergency and I felt it would be better to take my sister to Matri Sadan instead of the state general hospital,? she said.

But, the durwan at Matri Sadan refused to let them enter despite Lakshmi?s entreaties. ?The durwan kept telling me that no one was allowed inside without the card issued to patients,? Lakshmi said.

With time ticking away, she took a rickshaw for the state general hospital, about 5 km away. About halfway to the hospital, Lakshmi asked the rickshaw-puller to stop because her sister?s pain had increased.

Saraswati gave birth on the pavement, a stone?s throw from a nursing home run by Tarun Adhikari. The doctor, who was entering the nursing home at the time, heard Saraswati crying in pain.

He found Lakshmi with the new-born on her lap with the umbilical cord still attached to the placenta.

?Despite being a gynaecologist, I was confused at first sight. I had not seen anything like this?. The condition of the baby was critical... he was gasping for breath?,? Adhikari, a former Trinamul Congress MLA, said.

He rushed the mother and baby to intensive care and, ?? after several hours of resuscitation and care, the baby began to breathe normally. Now, both the baby and the mother are doing well?.