The death of a 32-year-old Mumbaikar after she fell off a horse in Matheran has highlighted the glaring lack of medical facilities at the quaint hill station. There was a possibility that she could have been saved, but the nearly 100-year-old local hospital did not have the facilities to handle a fracture, let alone a grave head injury like the one Neelam Singh had suffered.

The front-page report in this paper yesterday cited how she received a basic patch-up, before her family took her to the nearest hospital in Panvel. Much precious time was lost in the 2.5-hour journey there, as Neelam lay bleeding in the ambulance.