2 angry men drag Marie Stopes to court after contracting HIV and gonorrhea

The two Ugandan men accused Marie Stopes of distributing defective condoms to them and after using them they ended up being infected with diseases they never had befor.

Joseph Kintu and Sulaiman Balinya claimed they used condoms supplied by the organisation, Marie Stopes, but ended up contacting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

According to Tuko.co.ke, in their lawsuit filed before the Civil Division of the High Court, they claimed Marie Stopes negligently distributed the condoms leading them to contract HIV and gonorrhea respectively.

Kintu, claimed that in October 1, 2019, he bought a packet of Life Guard condoms batch No 1904205 from a drug shop to protect himself against consequences of unprotected sex. However, the condom broke during the act of sex hence exposing him to unprotected sex.

Two angry men take Marie Stopes to court after contracting HIV and gonorrhea Two angry men take Marie Stopes to court after contracting HIV and gonorrhea Pulse Ghana

“Having tested HIV negative twice before; in June and September 2019, I tested HIV positive on November 6, 2019,” Kintu narrates in his affidavit before court.

On the other hand, Balinya stated that on October 22, 2019, he bought the same brand of condoms batch number 19050105 which he used but later realised that it had broken and was leaking. He claims that being a regular condom user, he retained the other condoms he had not used for future use.

“He felt lots of pain in his private parts, went to Ruhooko Health Centre IV for treatment where he was tested and diagnosed with gonorrhoea and put on treatment,” reads in part the suit.

He argued that he had never been tested or diagnosed with gonorrhoea or any other sexually transmitted infection or disease before the use of the said condoms.

The two men claim that they later found out through the media that the said batch of Life Guard condoms had been recalled by the National Drug Authority (NDA) for being defective and having been illegally distributed by Marie Stopes.

The two men contend that NDA has clarified that the impugned condoms were defective and the importer rolled them on market before they could be tested and analysed.

Court documents state that as a result of the negligent actions by Marie Stopes, Kintu contracted HIV which he inadvertently transmitted to his wife.

He has consequently suffered mental anguish, inconvenience while Balinya contracted gonorrhoea which caused him excruciating pain.

Kintu wants USh 19 million (KSh 521,750) while Balinya wants USh 3 million (KSh 82,381) as special damages, general damages, exemplary damages at an interest of 30% and costs of the suit.