A WIMMERA physician and his family will be forced to leave Australia because his son has down syndrome.
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Dr Bernhard Moeller moved his family from Germany to Horsham two years ago after answering a desperate call from the community for a physician.
Dr Moeller said he, his wife Isabella and three children, Lukas, 13, Felix, 17, and Sarah, 21, had been very upset by a Department of Immigration decision to refuse them permanent residency.
"I am very worried about my children's future. I got a telephone call from my migrant agent who had a telephone call from the case manager at the Department of Immigration and she told him that our application for permanent residency will be refused because my son Lukas doesn't fulfill the health criteria of the department," he said.
"We had to fight the education authorities in Germany in wanting more choice for our son's schooling because he has down syndrome.
"Now that he has finally settled in, this happens.
"My other son is in Year 10 and worried about his future too because he is doing his VCE here which wouldn't mean much back in Germany.
"My daughter is in Melbourne studying science and she just started her first year and she is doing really well in her exams.
"This is messing with our lives because they are my dependants and leaving them here is not an option."
Dr Moeller said he was also worried for Wimmera Base Hospital and the Wimmera.
"I am the only permanent local physician here and the community needs me desperately. If I am not there, there wouldn't be a permanent physician at the hospital or in the Wimmera and there would be no junior doctors because there would be no experienced person to supervise them," he said.
