The 67-year-old South African, who arrived in Lawrence on April 1, 1996, worked his last day in the Clutha town last Wednesday.
''My first patient on Wednesday morning was a little girl who is 4 and she is just sweet.
''In some ways it was very hard to 'cut off'. It was 'heart-wrenching', is that the word?''
The doctor and his wife, Lorraine, came to Lawrence from Hokitika in 1996, after leaving Ellisras (or Lephalale) in their homeland South Africa in 1994, looking to start a new life in another country.
They brought with them two teenage daughters and left behind a 24-year-old son.
The Afrikaans couple met 58 years ago when Dr Dittrich's foster parents were transferred from a rural area to the city, to a house across the road from Mrs Dittrich's family. They will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary in December.
Dr Dittrich began work in Hokitika at the beginning of 1994, but after finding that practice a bit overstocked with doctors, decided to apply for a job in Lawrence.
''The ad ran for December, January and February, and early in February we decided that I should apply.''
It was a far cry from his experience in South Africa, where, at one stage, his private practice dealt with about 255,000 patients spread over a massive rural area.
In his first year in Ellisras, Dr Dittrich covered 80,000km in his ute.
Working in Lawrence had brought a new challenge, however.
He was ''it'' for the community.
''It was weird. Everywhere I worked with colleagues in the same building and this was the first time in my life that I really had to work single-handedly,'' he said.
''There were no other doctors in town. The nearest doctors were 35km away in Milton.
''It was a sea change.''
In the first six weeks he discovered that ''serious'' cases seemed to happen on a Friday afternoon.
''It was a learning curve and I quickly got hold of Dunedin Hospital's 0800 number and I would ring ED. The people working in ED were great, and still are great, to this day.''
He has spent countless hours on call, where he saw ''a lot of serious stuff''.
The strength and the support of the Lawrence community is what kept him there for the past 19 years.
''Work was rewarding,'' he said.
''The community is great.''
He saw the strength and support of the community when the directors of the Lawrence Health Centre decided to refurbish the old hospital building.
''We asked them [the community] for $30,000. They gave us nearly $60,000 in six months. That's the type of community it is.
''It pulls together and does things. It's an incredible place.''
He might have left Lawrence, but he is not putting down his stethoscope altogether.
Now living at East Taieri, he has accepted a job as a house doctor for four Dunedin rest-homes, a job he calls ''easing'' into retirement.
He will work a 28-hour week and will be finished for the day at 4pm, leaving more time for the garden, some pottery and his bonsai hobby.
If he remained healthy he would work until he was 72 years old, he said.
The Lawrence community will be relying on locum support until he is replaced as a full-time doctor.
