Bhaktapur, March 5 Nepal Cancer Relief Society has started a free shuttle service for cancer patients for the first time in Nepal. The service was launched a few days ago to mark the 22nd anniversary of Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, said Ishwor Shrestha, executive director of NCRS. Shrestha said the buses will ply from Bhaktapur to Kathmandu. “We have three buses for the shuttle service. One bus will ply from Koteshwor to Bhaktapur and back every two hours, and the other two will run from Bhaktapur to Ratnapark, Tripureswor, Teku, Teaching Hospital, Narayan Gopal Chowk, Gaushala, and Chabahil,” he said. “We only had free shuttle service for doctors and staff members before this,” said Shrestha. The service has been introduced to make it easier for patients to travel to the hospital. In order to help patients throughout the day, Shrestha said the buses will provide shuttle service to patients from 7:00am to 7:00pm. On the request of Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, the Bhaktapur Minibus Samiti has agreed to provide free shuttle service to cancer patients from Bhaktapur to Ratnapark after 7:30pm daily. Explaining the future of the free shuttle service, Shrestha said, “The service will be expanded to Lagankhel after completion of the road construction project. All the expenses of the service will be borne by NCRS. We were assisted by the AP Came Group for this endeavour.”