A young man was carrying a large zebra bag and a black foam mat at the gate of Shahid Gangalal National Heart Disease Center in Kathmandu on Monday. A little further away was Pooja Serla, 24. With a 40-day-old newborn baby in her arms, she was sitting impatiently in the cold deal near the gate.

Her husband is walking around at the gate. Four days ago, Pooja came to Kathmandu from Budhiganga in Bajura. She took the child to the local health center and the district hospital after she developed persistent fever. She said that she came to Kathmandu after the district hospital told her to go to Kathmandu. After being admitted to the teaching hospital Maharajgunj, the couple found out that the baby not only had pneumonia, but also a hole in the heart. 

The teaching hospital sent Gangalal. The couple could not reach Gangalal on time from the teaching hospital with their baby on Monday due to the suspension of public transport. Pooja told, "On the one hand, the child is sick, on the other hand, the vehicle was not found, it was very urgent." As he could not reach Gangalal on time, he did not get the ticket. So they were going to go to their husband's house in Kalanki without seeing the doctor and were stranded at Gangalal's gate. 

Pooja's husband was wandering around looking for a car. He found a motorcycle near the gate. Its drivers started 'bargaining' to go 'offline'. The driver told him that it would cost him 3.500 rupees to go from the hospital to Kalanki, while the taxi for the same distance was quoting 500 rupees. Pooja said, 'How can you take a child with pneumonia on a motorcycle for such a long way?'

Pooja's husband was wandering for a long time to find a vehicle. He did not even know why the car was not found. Pooja said solemnly, 'I don't know why this happened, I just felt useless grief.' After a long time, I saw a shared transport on the road, going only to Gongbu Bus Park. They boarded the same car thinking that it would be short even if it was half way.

Pooja is waiting for the car at the gate of the hospital with a 45-day-old infant.

Sagar Shrestha, who had suffered a lot to come to the hospital, was also sitting near Gangalal's gate. Santosh's 47-year-old wife, who lives in Sarlahi Hariwan Ghar, had a blood clot in her heart. He has been living in Chabhil of Kathmandu for a month for treatment. He used to go back and forth to the hospital by bus at other times and he rushed to the hospital in Pathao on Monday without getting public transport. He was saying, 'I came from Chabhil to the hospital on a bicycle, the hospital has asked to admit my wife today. There is no bus-taxi, how to bring patients from Chabhil to here, it is an emergency.'

^{Sagar Shrestha}

Deepa Periyar says that she has to suffer due to such closures. She lives in Kathmandu Tokha and runs a tailor shop. She went out to get the goods and was waiting for the car going to Jamal. After waiting for an hour and not getting a bus, she paid 250 for the fare of 30 rupees and boarded it. She says, 'I don't know who closed it and why. As there are clothes that need to be sewn today, we had to buy the goods, even if we had to pay expensive rent. Studying Korean in secret, he was in a hurry to get to class on time like any other day. But he missed his Monday class due to public transport shutdown. I waited for an hour. I thought why didn't the bus that comes in 10/10 minutes at other times come,' he said, 'I couldn't walk in the sun when I found out that it was closed, I missed today's class.' 

^{Raj Gurung}

75-year-old Hirlal Kandel, who came to Kathmandu from Chitwan, is undergoing treatment at Gangalal Hospital. He was staying in a hotel in Bagbazar and was going to the hospital by public transport the other day. But on Monday morning, he did not bother to come to the hospital. He did not get the bus even after waiting for a long time. Didn't even find a taxi. After waiting for a long time, I found a car with a red number plate, but the fare was very expensive. He says, "I had to pay a very high fare because I had to go to the hospital."

^{Sirha's Kavita Yadav and Chitwan's Hirlal Kandel . They came to Kathmandu for treatment and said that they were very sick because of the lack of public transport. Photos :  Aarti Poudel}

Kavita Yadav, who took a night bus from Siraha to get treatment for heart disease, got down at the bus park at Jhismisem on Monday morning. Kavita did not know that public transport across the country was closed on Monday until she boarded the train on Sunday evening. After getting down from the bus park, she was shocked when she could not get a vehicle to go to the hospital. Kavita, who came to Kathmandu for the first time, says, 'If I had known that it was going to be closed, I would not have come to Kathmandu.' The driver of the car with the red number plate said that he would take it away. But he had to pay a very high price. She came to Kathmandu after paying 1300 rupees and was forced to pay 700 rupees to go to the hospital from the bus park. She says, 'If the day after tomorrow continues like this, I will pay rent as much as money.'