The old Hume Highway town, home to 1100 citizens, went without a doctor for five months last year as Indigo North Health struggled to find a medico for its clinic.

GP Alade Sululola, who runs the Alpha Medical Centre in Wodonga's Beechworth Road, agreed last June to consult at Chiltern.

But he has now told Indigo North Health he cannot operate viably at Chiltern.

Indigo Health North chief executive Shane Kirk said Dr Sululola had been conducting six to eight consultations per day.

About 25 to 30 appointments each day is seen as a standard in the sector.

“He didn’t have the numbers basically, so from a business viability perspective it didn’t work out,” Mr Kirk said.

“With any business model you can’t run it successfully if things don’t add up.”

Dr Sululola, whose lease with Indigo North Health finishes on July 1, did not return The Border Mail’s calls.

The Nigerian-trained doctor, who arrived in Australia seven years ago, told The Border Mail last year he was taking on the Chiltern role as he "wanted to give something back to the community".

Chiltern councillor and former Indigo mayor Barb Murdoch was disappointed her community would again have no doctor.

“I think it is sad that we haven’t a doctor in Chiltern any more,” Cr Murdoch said.

“When you have an older population it’s good to have a doctor close to hand, so people don’t have to travel.”

Cr Murdoch said she was surprised at the move but suggested patients went elsewhere when the town lost its GP service last year.

“There must be some people going to other areas, we do have train and bus services to other areas, but it’s not a good thing not having a doctor in a town of this size,” she said.

Cr Murdoch did not foresee a role for the shire in recruiting a new doctor.

Indigo North Health will seek another GP, but Mr Kirk would not predict when consultations would resume.

Indigo Family Medical Centre owner Helen Barter, who had interest last year in the clinic’s lease, declined to say if she would be willing to take on the Chiltern centre.