Jakarta, June 2 -- Indonesia is launching a massive expansion of its free national health screening program, aiming to test 136 million citizens by the end of this year in a race to prevent a ticking time bomb of liver disease and cancer.

The aggressive push, announced by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, marks a near-doubling of the program's 2025 target of 70 million people.

It comes amid a stark admission from the government: Indonesia is drastically lagging behind global health targets, having screened just a fraction of the population for lethal viruses like Hepatitis B and C.

"The (WHO) target is 90 percent, but currently only 10 percent has been achieved," Sadikin said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The country's treatment coverage ...