The High Court in Kampala has ordered Paramount Hospital Kampala Limited to pay Medequip Uganda Limited Shs48 million after finding that the hospital breached an agreement to purchase an X-ray machine.
Justice Simon Peter M. Kinobe, in a judgment delivered on August 31, 2026, awarded Medequip Shs42.018 million in special damages and Shs6 million in general damages.
The dispute arose from an Equipment Sales Contract signed between the two companies for the purchase of a Fuji CR System X-ray machine valued at Shs75 million.
According to court records, Medequip delivered the machine to Paramount Hospital on November 2, 2019. Under the agreement, the hospital was required to pay an initial deposit of Shs30 million within two weeks of delivery, with the balance payable through post-dated cheques over six months.
However, the hospital failed to comply with the agreed payment schedule.
Medequip told the court that Paramount initially paid Shs25 million and subsequently made several instalment payments before stopping payments in 2020.
The plaintiff’s financial manager, Michael Sedik Youssef Abdelmotagly, told the court that the company received a total of Shs32.982 million from the hospital, leaving an outstanding balance of Shs42.018 million.
The court was also presented with invoice records and delivery documents confirming the transaction and payments made.
Although Medequip initially claimed Shs51.262 million, including interest, Justice Kinobe found that the evidence supported an outstanding balance of Shs42.018 million.
“The plaintiff company is entitled to recover from the defendant company the sum of UGX 42,018,000,” the judge ruled.
The case proceeded without a written defence from Paramount Hospital.
Court records show that the hospital was served with the summons and plaint but failed to file a defence. An interlocutory judgment was subsequently entered, and the matter proceeded to formal proof.
However, Justice Kinobe cautioned that the absence of a defence did not automatically prove Medequip’s claims.
The judge said the plaintiff still had a duty to prove its case on a balance of probabilities because pleadings alone do not constitute evidence.
Medequip therefore presented witness and documentary evidence to establish the existence of the contract, delivery of the equipment and Paramount Hospital’s failure to clear the purchase price.
The court also awarded Medequip Shs6 million in general damages, despite the company not presenting detailed evidence of the specific losses it suffered.
Justice Kinobe found that Medequip had been deprived of its money and was consequently inconvenienced in conducting its business.
The judge said Paramount Hospital’s failure to honour its payment obligations amounted to a fundamental breach of the contract.
On interest, the court awarded 20% per annum on the Shs42.018 million from the date the suit was filed until payment in full.
The Shs6 million awarded as general damages will attract interest at 6% per annum from August 31, 2026, the date of judgment, until payment in full.
Paramount Hospital was also ordered to meet the costs of the suit.
