Sandra Stevens had been waiting weeks for a lung capacity test to determine if her 8-year-old grandson Rhyan Morrison had bronchitis or asthma.
They were dismayed to find the Tristar Medical Group Mildura clinic had closed as they arrived at the counter for an appointment on Friday morning.
They were among hundreds of patients learning the clinic had gone under after its sale fell through late last night.
"The woman said 'unfortunately Tristar is closing'," Ms Stevens said.
She said the woman told her the closure was permanent.
She said she asked where she could get a medical appointment and was told there were 70 doctors in town.
"There was no information or referral," Ms Stevens said.
Tristar had been her family's clinic for five years.
"I've got two disabled grandchildren and they've pretty much always got appointments," Ms Stevens said.
"Now I'm going to have to go home and see where I can find one."
She said most places weren't taking new patients.
"There's going to be a lot of people in Mildura in trouble," she said.
Millions owed to regional doctors
Tristar Medical Group owes creditors more than $9.3 million, including more than $8.7 million to Westpac.
Many of the doctors in Mildura were not paid for up to 10 weeks and were owed about $210,000, according to McGrathNicol insolvency administrator Matthew Caddy.
Mr Caddy said about $3.6 million was owed to Tristar employees across their 12 clinics.
He said the clinic was forced to close after the planned sale to Family Doctor fell through last night.
"Unfortunately the Mildura sale is not going to complete because we were advised late last night the doctors who work at the clinic are not supportive of transitioning to Family Doctor," Mr Caddy said.
"Each doctor is an independent consultant and they were offered financial terms equivalent to what they are presently paid by Tristar.
"Unfortunately there are no doctors to see the patients today and we're going to be forced to close the clinic and the head office in Mildura."
He said 80 per cent of doctors across Tristar's network had agreed to transition to Family Doctor.
But he said none of the doctors from the Mildura clinic had agreed.
The sale of Tristar clinics were supposed to offer reassurances to patients in regional Victoria, after the company entered voluntary administration in May.
Twelve practices were set to be sold to Family Doctor, one of Australia's largest medical operators that runs about 60 clinics nationwide.
However, the Mildura and Coffs Harbour sales fell through.
Appointments cancelled
The mood was tense in the waiting room of the Mildura clinic on Friday morning.
Three reception staff members were calling "weeks" worth of patients to deliver the bad news.
They were just as surprised as the patients.
The administrators would not permit the staff to speak with the ABC.
Tristar Medical Group was established in 2003 and offered bulk-billing at its clinics which attracted a rebate of $39.10 for consultations less than 20 minutes.
Mr Caddy said its clinics in Ballarat, Deer Park, Eaglehawk, Epping, Epsom, Horsham, Kangaroo Flat, Mildura, Sebastopol, Sunbury and Wodonga were successfully sold to Family Doctor.
Family Doctor managing director and principal GP, Rodney Aziz, has been contacted for comment.
Founder 'set to lose a lot'
Mildura-based director Khaled El-Sheikh founded Tristar Medical Group in 2003.
Dr El-Sheikh said he was set to lose his six properties — including the house in which he was living and the car he drove.
"Pretty much 99.9 per cent of anything I own is in the company name so that will pretty much come down to zero," he said.
"I'm set to lose a lot."
He said his bank suspended their facility five years ago, forcing them to restructure.
With mounting debt — including a failure to pay employee superannuation — Dr El-Sheikh placed the company in voluntary administration.
"There was nothing going in the right direction. I got exhausted," he said.
"It breaks my heart I built this organisation from scratch."
He refuted claims he withdrew money from the company days before it became insolvent.
"I've never withdrawn anything myself, not a cent," he said.
He said he hoped to continue to serve the Mildura community as a doctor.
"I'm a doctor at the end of the day and I will try to serve my community. I'm sure I won't have any problem with my patients," he said.
"As for the people owed money under the organisation which gave them job support at the time — sometimes things go wrong and nothing is bulletproof in life."
