Yeni, 28 years, was bitten by a snake in the right leg when she crossed the river one evening, near her home in the village of Panagok. The following morning, she decided to go to the hospital by motorcycle with her six-month old son Adao, and her mother-in-law. She arrived at the hospital in Agok 24 hours after being bitten.

When she came to the hospital, the swelling from the bite had already moved up her entire thigh to the lower abdomen. She had a "compartmental syndrome" which causes muscle swelling and severe pain in nerves, muscles and tissues. Without surgery, this can lead to the total loss of the limb’s function, or even amputation. Yeni was therefore brought to the operating theatre for a surgical intervention called faciotomy, which consists of making incisions in the leg to free the pressure in the muscles and reduce the swelling.

She has already spent almost a week at the hospital. When the wound is clean and the swelling has completely regressed, she will go back to surgery to close up the wound. If the wound cannot close up completely, she may need a skin graft, which would require staying even longer r week at hospital. In total, Yeni she could stay more than three weeks. Snakebite victims who arrive too late at hospital often have considerable muscle damage and have to stay a long time for treatment..