AN engineering company in Renfrewshire has unveiled a new ventilator system to support the global battle against Covid-19.

Boffins at JFD – one of the world’s leading subsea operations and manufacturing companies – developed the InVicto ventilator, which aims to reduce pressure on intensive care units and help save lives as the coronavirus outbreak hits numerous countries.

The launch of the new system follows a call from the UK Government for manufacturers to support the provision of essential medical equipment to frontline NHS services.

A team of around 150 workers at the firm’s Inchinnan base has been playing an important role in producing the new ventilator system, developed within a matter of weeks.

Alistair Wilson, sales and marketing director at JFD, told The Gazette: “The ventilator is a novel design, in that you can ventilate patients through a mask without sedating them and it gives them an enrichment of oxygen, as well as helping their breathing.

“We require to procure a lot of parts for our assembly line process in Aberdeen and a lot of the supply chain effort and some of the project management support is being run out of Inchinnan.

“It’s been a challenge to do it so quickly and we are tremendously proud of what we’ve achieved.”

JFD has applied for ‘exceptional approval’ from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) for the new ventilator.

Under normal circumstances, it would take up to 18 months for the equipment to be approved and, as a result, the InVicto system will only be released during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The company was able to develop the ventilator so quickly due to having produced similar devices in the past.

JFD plans to make 2,000 ventilator systems weekly, which will be distributed throughout the UK and, hopefully, across the globe.

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