Paramount Hospital has been ordered to pay medical equipment dealer Medequip Uganda Shs48 million in damages for failing to pay for an X-ray machine supplied in 2019. The High Court Civil Division awarded Medequip Uganda Shs42.018 million in special damages and Shs6 million in general damages after finding that the hospital fundamentally breached its contractual obligations.
In a ruling delivered electronically on Monday evening, Acting Judge Simon Peter Kinobe also ordered Paramount Hospital to pay interest of 20 percent per annum on the special damages from the date the suit was filed until full payment. The hospital was further ordered to pay six percent annual interest on the general damages from the date of judgment until payment in full.
Medequip Financial Manager Michael Sedik Youssef Abdelmotagly told the court that the company supplied Paramount Hospital with a brand-new Fuji CR System Advanced Smart Full Option X-ray machine on November 2, 2019, for Shs75 million. Under the agreement, the hospital was required to pay an initial deposit of Shs30 million within two weeks of delivery, with the balance payable in six monthly instalments.
However, the payment schedule was not honoured. According to Sedik, the hospital paid a total of Shs33.782 million, comprising an initial payment of Shs25 million and four subsequent instalments totalling Shs7.982 million. In January 2020, the hospital director approached Medequip and requested an additional eight months to clear the outstanding balance and proposed a new payment schedule, which the company accepted.
Sedik told the court that the revised payment schedule was also not honoured. In his ruling, Justice Kinobe found that Medequip had been deprived of its money and consequently inconvenienced because the funds could have been used in the company’s business. The judge said the hospital’s conduct went to the root of the contract and amounted to a fundamental breach.
At the time of the proceedings, the hospital had an outstanding balance of Shs51.261 million, inclusive of interest calculated at two percent per month. The court consequently entered judgment in favour of Medequip Uganda and awarded the company Shs 48.018 million in special and general damages, together with the prescribed interest-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
