Sawt Falasteen - Indonesia launches free health check-up programme

Indonesians of all ages are now eligible to receive annual check-ups aimed at early detection of cardiovascular diseases, congenital disorders in children and other ailments, health officials said.

The scheme is among several social welfare pledges from Prabowo's election campaign last year, including a free-meal programme launched last month to fight stunted growth due to malnutrition.

Under the new health scheme, young children and adults will be eligible to receive a voucher, on their birthday or within 30 days, for a free screening at a community health centre. Students aged 7-17 can get a check-up at their school beginning in July.

"This is a birthday present from the country to all citizens and it began today," health ministry spokesman Widyawati, who like many Indonesians only has one name, told AFP on Monday.

"As mandated by the constitution, every citizen is entitled to receive health service."

The programme aims to serve 60 million Indonesians this year, and cover 280 million, the nation's estimated population, by 2030, according to the health ministry.

The government will allocate 4.7 trillion rupiah ($288 million) to pay for it, the presidential palace has said.

Indonesia already offered government-provided health care under which the state pays for poor citizens' hospitalisations and treatments by doctors, but it did not include annual check-ups.

The biggest killers in Indonesia are stroke followed by heart attack, also among the top causes of death globally.

In January, Prabowo's government launched an ambitious $4.3 billion free-meal programme to provide nutritious meals to tens of millions of schoolchildren and pregnant women.

It is aimed at combatting stunting, which affects about one in five children in the Southeast Asian nation.

The government's goal is to reduce that rate to five percent of children by 2045.

O.Farraj--SF-PST