Mumbai woman dies after falling off horse at Matheran

A short horse ride at Matheran turned into a complete nightmare for the Singh family from Kurla after one of them fell off her mount and injured her head Although the 32yearold Neelam had received grave injuries her family had no idea just how hopeless the situation was until they reached the local medical centre mdash the nearly hundredyearold hospital did not have the facilities to handle a simple fracture and the doctor was only qualified to practice ayurveda The woman received the most basic patchup before they made their way to the nearest hospital all the way in Panvel where she eventually diedAlso Read 7yrold British girl dies in Matheran as horse runs amokNeelam Singh extreme left pictured with her sister Suman and Sumanrsquos fianceacute Karthik moments before the fateful horse rideAll we could do was watch her helplessly as she bled for over two and a half hours in the ambulance There was no nurse to take care of her and the doctor sat in the front with the driver Neelam was bleeding from her head and ears She couldnrsquot breathe and was spitting blood It was unbearable said her sister SumanThis is the third fatal incident of a tourist falling off a horse at Matheran in the recent years see box but Neelamrsquos case highlights the glaring lack of safety regulations or emergency facilities at the popular hill stationShe was the eldest daughter in the Singh family The 32yearold was a resident of Kurla where she would run her familyrsquos publishing business and B2B magazine lsquoPackaging Solutionsrsquo while also working at a call centre in MaladSuman Singh and her fianceacute Karthik had gone to Matheran with Neelam to celebrate their birthdays PicSameer MarkandeBirthday tripIt was to celebrate her younger sister Sumanrsquos birthday that they went to Matheran on Saturday Two days later they would have celebrated Neelamrsquos birthday as well They were accompanied by Sumanrsquos fianceacute Karthik Adhishesha and a family friend We thought it could be a good surprise for Suman since it was her birthday We had all been to Matheran before but Karthik had only heard about it and was very enthusiastic said the family friendRead Story Horse survives 200ft fall into valley in Matheran with only minor injuriesHorse rides are a highlight for tourists at Matheran and the Singh sisters had done it several times in the past When they saw their regular horse handler they decided to go on a horseback tour of the popular sights around 430 pmNeelam SinghNo safety measuresSuman and Karthik confirmed that none of them were wearing any helmets or any safety gear for that matter Only one handler was accompanying them on foot as they each mounted a horse He wasnrsquot holding the reins to Neelamrsquos horse and she was riding alone at the front As the quartet trotted towards Louisa Point which offers a view of Prabal Fort they approached a sharp bend on the road and Neelamrsquos horse suddenly galloped awayNeelam and the horse disappeared around the turn there was a steep curve and some bushes so we couldnrsquot see them We heard a scream and froze in terror recalled Suman When they ran to check on Neelam they were horrified to see her lying unconscious on the ground bleeding from her headIt was a nopollution zone so there were no cars to take her to hospital but the locals were helpful and immediately arranged for a handcart to carry her said Karthik adding that it was unfortunate that even in her vulnerable state someone stole Neelamrsquos mobile phoneHospital poorly equippedNeelam was taken to Bairamjee Jijibhai Hospital but their horror was far from over The civic hospital is a hundred years old and had been built by British There is no MBBSqualified doctor there Even if they get a worldclass specialist what can he do without equipment said Sunil Shinde a native of Matheran who works as a teacher in Mumbai He was present at the hospital during the incident and confirmed that very little has been done to prevent such incidents or to develop the local medical facilities which could play a major role in saving livesThe doctor present on duty was Dr Uday Tambe BAMS immediately told the family that Neelamrsquos condition was serious and she would have to be moved to Panvel He told midday the hospital had limited resources and just two doctors both qualified in ayurveda one nurse one ward boy and two servantsEven with fracture cases all we can do is give them painkillers and send them to a specialised facility The patient was bleeding from her left ear and head suffering from repeated fits and had breathing difficulty Prima facie it seemed like an intracranial hemorrhage bleeding inside the skull and the patient was in need of immediate ventilator support We called for an 108 ambulance gave injections for the fits intubated her and took her to the hospital After she was handed over to doctors at Life Line Hospital in Panvel and stabilized on ventilator I left said TambeAlthough Tambe accompanied the patient in the ambulance he sat ahead with the driver instead of assisting her Questioned about this Tambe said there wasnrsquot much more he could have done as the ambulance wasnrsquot fitted with a ventilatorNeelam reached Life Line Hospital around 7 pm and was immediately put on ventilator support But the hospital did not give the family any hope for Neelamrsquos survival Within half an hour they called us to the ICU and told us there was zero chance of survival They said they would operate but even that would yield no results said SumanAfter discussing the matter with their own doctors in Mumbai they decided to shift Neelam to Habibi Hospital in Dongri Then began a tussle with the hospital authorities who demanded R30000 before they could discharge the patient against medical advice The family had exhausted their cash and credit card limit already and could only pay R5000 In the midst of all this Neelam suffered a brain hemorrhageDr Prakash Patil chairman and managing director of the hospital said The family wanted to shift the patient but she wasnrsquot in a condition to be shifted thatrsquos why we advised against it If a patient just doesnrsquot have money we let them go But eventually you have to pay the chargesThe hospital provided a cardiac ambulance fitted with a ventilator and Neelam was shifted to Habibi hospital The doctors there put her on ventilator support but informed the family that Neelam was already brain dead On Monday she succumbed to multiple organ failureIt was her birthday on February 22 She met with an accident on my birthday and died on hers What can be worse said SumanThe family said they donrsquot want to take action against the horse owner but want the shabby medical facilities to be improved We donrsquot want anybody behind bars We just want some concrete solutions said KarthikHorseback safetyAs a first step to improve safety NCP leader and former chief of the Matheran Municipal Corporation Ajay Sawant said Saturdayrsquos incident is really unfortunate I personally feel that the government should take serious note and make helmets compulsory while riding horsesmidday got a similar response from Asha Kadam chief of Sthanik Ashwapal Sanghatan which has close to 200 horses under itAccording to an official there are other issues Now there are 460 horses in Matheran but few horse handlers One man manning four horses can hardly control all of them said the official adding that the horses are forced to work without any rest causing them to go berserk at times which is what happened in a 2015 incident that killed a 7yearold British girl see box Thehorses work relentlessly It is animal after all it is bound to retaliate said the officialmdash Inputs by Ranjeet JadhavImprovement planMMRDA has plans to spend over R46 crore to make improvements in Matheran which includes relaying the 55km road between Dasturi naka and Matheran renovation of tourist points and installation of benches to help tourists mount horses But there is no mention of improving medical services When questioned about this Joint Project Director Dilip Kawatkar refused to comment