“Do not forget, this program will continue every year," said Director General of Primary and Community Health at the ministry, Maria Endang Sumiwi, during a press conference held with the Government Communication Agency in Jakarta on Thursday.
She emphasized that people should not skip their check-ups just because they were screened in the previous year.
She likened health check-ups to routine vehicle servicing, which is done periodically to prevent serious damage. This way, health issues within the community can be consistently detected and addressed more quickly.
“It is like servicing a car or motorcycle regularly so we can identify small problems and fix them,” she explained.
Sumiwi also shared that since the program’s launch in February until September 17, 2025, approximately 29.8 million participants have undergone health checks through the Free Health Check-up Program across 38 provinces.
“As of yesterday, we have had 32 million registrants for the Free Health Check-up, and 29.8 million have already been examined,” she said.
The program involves 10,226 community health centers (puskesmas) out of a total of 10,286 across the country.
She added that the majority of participants are women, totaling 17.18 million or about 57.5 percent, while male participants number 12.69 million or 42.5 percent.
To increase participation, Maria said the government plans to develop targeted approaches, such as promoting the program using local languages.
“Currently, the promotion is general and not yet tailored with messages in local languages and so on. We are still developing these special approaches,” she said.
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Translator: Tri, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Arie Novarina
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