Men sue Marie Stopes after contracting HIV, gonorrhea while using Life Guard condoms

Two men have sued Marie Stopes Uganda for laxity after using Lifeguard condoms they say burst during sex.

This, Joseph Kintu and Sulaiman Balinya, claim led to the contraction of HIV/Aids and gonorrhea respectively.

According to the suit filed on February 18 in High Court’s civil division, Kintu and Balinya want ‘special damages, general damages, exemplary damages, interest and costs of this suit.’

Through their lawyers, the duo also wants Marie Stopes – Uganda,  a non-government organisation that offers reproductive health services,  to declare that the company was negligent.

Kintu says last October, he bought a packet Lifeguard condoms batch No 1904205 from a drug shop in Kapeeka, Nakaseke.

In the process of having sex, the condom burst and exposed him to unprotected sex.

“Having tested HIV-negative, twice before in June and September 2019, the first plaintiff (Kintu) tested HIV-positive on the November 6, 2019,” reads part of the plaint.

Balinya on the other hand claims he contracted gonorrhea after using the Lifeguard condoms which have since been recalled by National Drug Authority.

In November last year, Sarah Opendi, the then state minister for Health, told Parliament that two batches of Lifeguard condoms [No. 1904205 and No. 19050105] had been illegally rolled to the public and without following the prescribed procedure by Marie Stopes.

This is not the first suit against the NGO following the recalled condoms saga.

Recently, activists for people with hearing impairment through their umbrella body- Enforcement of Patients and Health Workers’s Rights (EPHWOR) sued Marie Stopes Uganda for not releasing communication in sign language that favours the deaf about the recall.

Ambrose Mulangira, the disability inclusion specialist said deaf people were not prevailed with a chance to get such communication since it had no any form of sign language.

Court is yet set a date for Marie Stopes to file a defence.