ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: The federal government on Saturday directed the federal authorities and the provinces to reinforce health posts at all border crossings and ensure that every child crossing national borders was checked and immunised against polio.

The instructions were passed by Federal Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan during a meeting in Islamabad held to discuss the threat of cross-border spread of polio.

The meeting was also attended by health secretaries of the NWFP and Balochistan besides representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef.

So far, 16 cases of polio have been detected in the country this year against 93 cases detected in 2002.

Secretary Health Anwar Mahmood stressed the need to augment immunisation services, especially in the NWFP and Balochistan.

Secretary Health, NWFP, Abdul Samad Khan, said that ulema and nazims had been involved in promoting the programme at the district level.