The de facto provincial administration in Khost has formally rejected viral social media reports claiming that a pregnant woman was forced to give birth on the street outside the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) maternity hospital.
Mostaghfar Gurbaz, spokesperson for the de facto Khost governor, addressed the incident on social media, labeling the widespread reports as entirely false and detached from reality. According to Gurbaz, a special joint delegation dispatched by the provincial administration and the Public Health Directorate completed a comprehensive investigation into the episode.
Official findings claim that the patient had been referred from a rural district clinic to the regional MSF facility due to severe complications involving high blood pressure. Gurbaz stated that upon arrival at the hospital entrance, the woman’s condition deteriorated rapidly as she was being helped down from a vehicle, causing her to collapse to the ground. He maintained that female bystanders immediately gathered to shield her with a veil while medical personnel rushed out from the facility to transfer her indoors for emergency treatment.
Furthermore, administration officials asserted that video testimony from a family member corroborates this sequence of events, though the footage was withheld from public release due to social sensitivities.
Despite the official clarification, social media users and local commentators have expressed deep skepticism regarding the administration’s narrative. Critics questioned core discrepancies in the official account, noting that the heavy reliance on female bystanders to assist a collapsing patient raises questions about the absence of male relatives or hospital attendants. Online critics also reiterated longstanding complaints that regional maternity centers routinely turn away laboring mothers under triage pretexts, forcing many women into dangerous deliveries outside formal medical facilities.