GP recruitment has stalled or slid backwards in most of the north and north-east, despite soaring numbers of medical staff elsewhere in Scotland.
New NHS figures have highlighted the difficulties some heath boards are facing in their attempts to attract more workers, prompting further calls for Scottish Government help.
In recent months a Black Isle surgery relying solely on locums had to refuse urgent appointments due to a lack of permanent staff.
And it was also revealed that just three doctors had taken up a £20,000 “golden hello” offer to work for NHS Grampian, with politicians blaming the high cost of living on the low up-take.
This year Aberdeen was recorded as having 229 GPs – down four on the previous year but up slightly on the 225 on the books in 2007.
Elsewhere the Highland council area experienced a slight increase over the last decade – from 294 to 295 – while numbers held steady in Moray at 83.
The figures were worse on the northern isles, with a 9.68% drop in Shetland and 18.6% fall in Orkney over the decade.
Yet several other areas had huge boons to their ranks.
East Lothian experienced a 29.21% jump to 115 GPs, while there were also double-digit increases for areas including Edinburgh, Midlothian, and Perth and Kinross.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Our new GP contract, a historic joint agreement between the Scottish Government and the BMA, will help cut doctors’ overall workload and ensure GPs are able to spend more time with patients.
“It will also make general practice an even more attractive career prospect to younger doctors and retaining existing doctors.
“Our aim is to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over 10 years.”
But North-east Conservative MSP Peter Chapman said the latest figures confirmed there was a “crisis in GP provision” in the north of Scotland.
He added: “We have a crisis in GP provision in the north and north-east of Scotland, with increasing patient demand and not enough doctors.
“Many of those that are working are fast approaching retirement, and the SNP government has not done enough over the past decade to plan for the future.
“In areas like Aberdeen, Moray and the Highlands, the number of GPs has barely changed since 2007.
“However, we have an ageing population which is putting more pressure on primary care services.
“The recent announcement from the health secretary on GP recruitment is welcome, but this is something that the SNP has been warned about for years, and failed to act to sufficiently address a problem they were told was coming down the road.”
