diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/clh.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/clh.go
index 9303e44956..15e10ba380 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/clh.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/clh.go
@@ -420,15 +420,12 @@ func (clh *cloudHypervisor) hotplugAddBlockDevice(drive *config.BlockDrive) erro
 			" using '%v' but only support '%v'", clh.config.BlockDeviceDriver, config.VirtioBlock)
 	}
 
+	var err error
+
 	cl := clh.client()
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), clhHotPlugAPITimeout*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 
-	_, _, err := cl.VmmPingGet(ctx)
-	if err != nil {
-		return openAPIClientError(err)
-	}
-
 	driveID := clhDriveIndexToID(drive.Index)
 
 	//Explicitly set PCIAddr to NULL, so that VirtPath can be used
@@ -457,12 +454,7 @@ func (clh *cloudHypervisor) hotPlugVFIODevice(device config.VFIODev) error {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), clhHotPlugAPITimeout*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 
-	_, _, err := cl.VmmPingGet(ctx)
-	if err != nil {
-		return openAPIClientError(err)
-	}
-
-	_, _, err = cl.VmAddDevicePut(ctx, chclient.VmAddDevice{Path: device.SysfsDev})
+	_, _, err := cl.VmAddDevicePut(ctx, chclient.VmAddDevice{Path: device.SysfsDev})
 	if err != nil {
 		err = fmt.Errorf("Failed to hotplug device %+v %s", device, openAPIClientError(err))
 	}