The curtain on a new era of transparency in public service appeared ready to be lifted when three months before his February 2016 election win, then Opposition Leader Andrew Holness promised to publicly release his health records.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to something like that for the persons who are going to be possibly leading us – like the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition,” the representative for St Andrew West Rural said.

The use of the information by political enemies and the treatment by media must also be considered, said Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer, a physician and professor of public health at The University of West Indies.

Two recent events – the passing of Labour and Social Security Minister Shahine Robinson and the disclosure by Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips that he had surgery for colon cancer – have triggered the latest discussion surrounding health disclosures by leaders.

“God forbids, if the minister of finance had a debilitating illness, we would certainly have a setback; similarly with health; similarly with national security,” Mitchell told The Sunday Gleaner.