He said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Programme on Monday when he was asked to address the school of thought which says the virus doesn’t exist in Nigeria because people aren’t dropping dead on the streets.

Utah said such school of thought is largely from those who are illiterates.

“If we are waiting for people to die on the road before we intervene, then there is no need to have doctors.

“We have what we call preventive medicine. We want to prevent, we don’t want people to die. Doctors are trained not to be looking for dead people. Doctors are trained to prevent people from dying.

“How many people have Nigerians seen dying even in the hospital, not to talk about a situation where the whole world is on its knees because of COVID? So, that statement, I think, is largely for those who are illiterates,” he said.

He said doctors will continue to do everything they can and engage the government towards preventing people from dying.

He said, “We have a branch of medicine called community medicine and preventive medicine, this is the discipline that ensures that people do not die. We intervene early, prevent death, prevent ill-health and promote health.

“And in that case, that is what we as doctors will continue to preach, propagate, advocate and engage with the government to do so that we do not need people to die or to be seeing dead bodies on the road before we can believe that there is COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, the Association on Monday said COVID-19 vaccines being imported into the country must undergo a quick clinical trial before it is administered to citizens.

According to the NMA President, Professor Innocent Ujah, reactions to vaccines differ among different races.

“If the vaccines come to Nigeria, we need to quickly do our own evaluation of that vaccine,” he said, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. “I cannot say with 100 per cent certainty that in the process of developing this vaccine, in the clinical trials, whether any African countries were involved. I’m not too sure, but it’s possible.

The NMA is also seeking additional funding from the federal government as doctors continue to suffer from the deadly pandemic.

At least 20 doctors died in the past week after contracting COVID-19, according to the chairman of the NMA in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Enema Amodu.

The doctors died in the course of treating infected patients who failed to disclose their true health status, Amodu said.

“We don’t want anybody to die in the service of their country,” Ujah said. “That’s why we talk about infection prevention and control. And we believe that working with the federal government, the PTF, and the Ministry of Health, we need to continually train our health workers – doctors, nurses – and anyone who has anything to do with patients on infection prevention and control.

“Then because of biology, because of the environment, because of our genetic composition, we need to do our own clinical trials very quickly before it can be used on Nigerians. While we do not question the efficacy and safety, the responses vary from place to place.

“Recall that when we were using chloroquine, the southern part was not responding to chloroquine, some parts of the north were. But in totality, it was thought that chloroquine was no longer effective and we changed.”