Humza Yousaf has been accused of cancelling vital NHS meetings as Health Secretary so he could campaign to be First Minister.
The revelation came as junior doctors were balloted for strike action over a pay dispute.
Nominations for the SNP leadership contest opened in the middle of February.
A freedom of information request by Scottish Labour showed 17 meetings from the then Health Secretary’s diary were cancelled between February 20th and 27th.
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: "The facts are clear for all to see – Humza Yousaf ditched important ministerial appointments in order to campaign for the office of First Minister.
“All this shows is that the day job of being in charge of our NHS is less important to Mr Yousaf than his own personal ambition.
“While carers, nurses and doctors battled tirelessly to prop up our NHS, Humza Yousaf was touring television studios and pressing the flesh with the party faithful.
“One in seven Scots are on waiting lists, A&E’s are overwhelmed and drugs deaths remain at record levels – Mr Yousaf’s skewed priorities show that he is not the First Minister that Scotland needs.
“Scotland deserves better – Scotland deserves ministers who put the people before their own ambitions.”
Yousaf was criticised during the contest by leadership rival Kate Forbes for his performance as Health Secretary.
She had a dig at him by saying she would not give him the same job if she became First Minister.
There have been no NHS strikes by health union staff, but junior doctors have been balloted for industrial action.
In a statement today, the BMA Scotland said: “Humza Yousaf campaigned on the fact there were no strikes in our Scottish NHS, but if he – and his new Cabinet Secretary for Health – don’t engage with us to achieve full pay restoration, strikes will come to NHS Scotland within their first few months in post.
“Full pay restoration is an absolute priority for the workforce and for the NHS. The Scottish Government has 5 weeks until our ballot closes on 5th May.”
On Yousaf’s watch, patient targets for accident and emergency have regularly been broken and hundreds of thousands of Scots are languishing on a waiting list.
The new First Minister has nominated Michael Matheson to be the next Health Secretary.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Thousands of patients every week have been left to wait for hours on end, but Humza Yousaf can’t even be bothered to show up to a few meetings. It’s not a good look for the public service demanded of him as FM.
“Despite his attempts to hide, none of us can forget Humza Yousaf’s colossally disastrous time as health secretary.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Ministerial diaries are updated on a daily basis, often multiple times, for a wide variety of reasons.
"Meetings and engagements, whether internal to the Scottish Government or with external individuals and bodies, may be cancelled, postponed or rearranged by organisers other than a Minister.”
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