A new mobile app launched yesterday aims to provide ordinary Singaporeans with information and boost of confidence needed to act when they encounter someone suffering a heart attack.

The app, which is named Dare after the Dispatcher-Assisted First Responder programme, will teach users how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) through step-by-step tutorials.

It also includes information about helping someone who is suffering from a cardiac arrest. Videos, quizzes and games are used to enhance learning.

Users can call 995 for real-time guidance and find the nearest AED through the app. The public can also sign up for free training sessions through the app to be officially certified to perform CPR.

The Dare programme, which began in 2014, is a simplified one-hour course designed by the Ministry of Health to make learning CPR and using an AED easy.

Mr Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health, noted that of the over 2,300 cardiac arrests occurring here yearly, 70 per cent happen in residential areas.

"This means that any one of us - family, friends, neighbours or bystanders - may potentially encounter a cardiac arrest victim," he said.

Dr Jade Kua, programme director of Dare, said anyone who witnesses a cardiac arrest is the best first responder, as even the fastest ambulance takes about eight to 12 minutes to arrive.