THE region's most senior public health doctor is starting a new job in Iraq this week.

North-East director of public health Dr Bill Kirkup is in Iraq to advise the Anglo-American authorities on how to get the war-torn country back on its feet.

The doctor, who is based in Newcastle, is expected to be in the Middle-East for at least six weeks.

Dr Kirkup's main task is to help to get the country's infrastructure working. A combination of neglect, war and looting has left much of Iraq without adequate water supplies, sanitation, reliable electricity supplies and an adequate health service.

Dr Kirkup, 54, who answered a call from the Department of Health, said he would be working closely with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.

He said: "There is still a lot of chaos in Iraq, and there are all kinds of public health problems to do with the provision of clean water and sanitation.

"They are the problems that need to be tackled first."

"We will mainly be concerned with the country's infrastructure. The aim is to try and get things working again and assist in the transition to Iraqi control."

Dr Kirkup has experience of difficult foreign assignments.

In 1999 he helped restore essential services in Kosovo's main hospital after retreating Serbs destroyed equipment and fittings.

A year later he was on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, checking out health services that had been badly disrupted by a volcanic eruption in 1997.

He said he had to think long and hard about going to Iraq, where security is still not 100 per cent.

But Dr Kirkup, who has three grown-up children, said he decided to accept the job after discussing the situation with his wife.

"She has some misgivings but is very supportive," he said.