Dr Rhys Thomas pictured in Tenby It's simple and robust and specifically designed to work against Covid virus in a contagious environment

A Tenby Ironman and former senior medical officer in the Parachute Regiment has designed ventilators that could save the lives of thousands of people suffering from coronavirus.

Dr Rhys Thomas, a senior consultant at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, has been working flat out over the past week with Maurice Clarke of CR Clarke Ltd at Ammanford to develop a new ventilator-type device to treat Covid-19 patients.

On Saturday evening the device was successfully used at Prince Philip hospital to treat a Covid-19 patient, who’s now recovering well.

The Ammanford company is turning out 100 units every day and it will shortly go into mass production at a larger factory.

Dr Thomas, who was chosen as the Plaid Cymru candidate to fight the Carmarthen West and South Pembs constituency at UK and Welsh level at the last election, served seven tours of duty in Afghanistan, attending to seriously wounded personnel being brought into hospital by helicopter.

After leaving the armed forces, Dr Thomas decided to put the lessons he had learnt on the front line to good use by creating with his colleague, Dr Dindi Gill, the new enhanced Wales Air Ambulance Service.

As a former army medic for 17 years, he drew on his extensive military and civilian experience in anaesthetics and resuscitation and advice from the brave doctors fighting Covid-19 in Bergamo, Italy to create The Covid Emergency Ventilator.

The majority of patients won’t need intensive care if they are treated with this device first, releasing ICU ventilators for more serious Covid-19 cases and other general medical cases.

It took just three days to design but the senior doctor involved believes the easy-to-build device could dramatically ease the strain on NHS staff.

Dr Thomas, said that he was "desperately concerned" at the lack of intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators to deal with the expected influx of patients.

“The patient can self-care, releasing specialist nurses for other duties," said Dr. Thomas

“It’s simple and robust and specifically designed to work against Covid virus in a contagious environment.

"Although it won’t replace an ICU ventilator, the majority of patients won’t need intensive care if they are treated with this ventilator first.

“The machine will also clean the room of viral particles and only supply purified air to the patient. The patient can self-care, releasing specialist nurses for other duties,” continued Dr. Thomas - a dedicated sportsman, he has competed three times at the Ironman Wales event held in Tenby and also at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

Since the outbreak, doctors, scientists and designers have been working on ideas to stop the virus spreading.

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, who was part of the impetus to get the ventilator into mass production, said the innovations put Wales "on the front foot" in the battle against the pandemic.

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