Treating Cancer Puts Multidisciplinary Teams First in Care

Few journeys are as disorienting as a cancer diagnosis, and in South Africa the first challenge is often practical rather than medical: working out who to see and in what order. A Johannesburg practice called Treating Cancer was founded to answer that question with a single, coordinated team that walks with each patient from the opening consultation right through treatment and the period that follows. At its helm is Dr Prinitha Pillay, a specialist radiation oncologist, whose practice unites medical, surgical and radiation skills under one roof so that nobody has to stitch their own care together from scattered appointments.

With August 2026 turning national attention towards prevention and early screening, Treating Cancer is drawing attention to what a multidisciplinary approach can offer people who have just received a diagnosis or are still weighing their choices. Rising cancer rates, combined with the fact that many patients are diagnosed at a late stage, make dependable guidance and thorough treatment planning more valuable than ever. By having the full team review every case before any decision is taken, the practice sets out to strip away a good deal of that early uncertainty.

The engine of this approach is a multidisciplinary team drawing on medical, surgical and radiation oncologists, a medical physicist, radiotherapists, specialised nurses and a nutritionist. Because each case passes through this whole group, the resulting plan carries more than a single viewpoint. Dr Pillay, a seasoned oncologist, assembles the clinical information the team requires, then weighs the risks and benefits of each route and considers how it might shape a patient’s quality of life. What emerges is a plan fitted to the person rather than a generic pathway applied to everyone.

The range of modern treatments open to patients is wide. It spans chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, along with stereotactic radiotherapy, brachytherapy, radiofrequency ablation, nuclear medicine and up-to-date surgical oncology techniques. On the radiation side, the practice uses advanced tools including external beam radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy and image-guided radiation therapy, which can concentrate a strong dose on a tumour while protecting the healthy tissue nearby. All of this is provided at state-of-the-art facilities fitted with current technology.

A large variety of cancers falls within the practice’s scope, covering breast, gynaecological, gastrointestinal, thoracic, head and neck, genitourinary, neurological, bone, musculoskeletal, dermatological, ocular and paediatric cancers. That range means patients and referring doctors can look to one practice across many different diagnoses, confident that specialists from every relevant discipline weigh in on each case.

Ease of access has been built into the model on purpose. Dr Pillay sees and treats patients at the facility they prefer, which helps hold down needless expense, and the Johannesburg base is easy to reach for those coming from other parts of the country or from overseas. Treatment timetables can be shaped flexibly for anyone juggling time away from work or home, and patient information is kept confidential at every stage. Consultations run from 7am to 7pm.

Care here extends well past the treatments on offer to the lived reality of cancer. Supportive and nutritional care are woven into the plan, while specialised nurses help patients cope with the everyday demands of treatment. The practice sums up its purpose as standing beside patients rather than tackling a disease in isolation, framing what it does around courage and dignity instead of illness alone.

Much of the practice’s standing comes from Dr Pillay’s own record. She holds a BSc Hons and MBBCh from the University of the Witwatersrand, an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an MMed from Wits and a Fellowship in Radiation Oncology of the College of Medicine of South Africa. Ahead of specialising in oncology she spent years in humanitarian medicine with Doctors Without Borders, serving in places as varied as Lesotho, Sudan, Sierra Leone and both urban and rural South Africa, and she went on to become President of Doctors Without Borders in South Africa. The Mail and Guardian named her one of its top ten Women in Health in 2011, and she later worked as a technical specialist on HIV and tuberculosis with Wits while campaigning for better access to care in rural communities.

For someone newly diagnosed, everything begins with a consultation in which Dr Pillay goes over the clinical information already collected and sets out what the multidisciplinary review entails. Referring doctors stay part of the discussion, and the practice shapes its schedules around their requirements as well as the patient’s. This joined-up approach is meant to cut down on the separate visits a patient must make and to keep everyone involved working from one shared plan.

The focus on advanced radiation technology mirrors just how far the discipline has moved. Methods such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy and image-guided radiation therapy allow a tumour to be targeted with greater precision, which can help shield the organs and tissue around it. Paired with chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy when suitable, this spread of options lets the team match treatment to the type and stage of each cancer instead of leaning on any single technique.

Access has run like a thread through Dr Pillay’s whole career, from her humanitarian service to her push for rural health, and it still guides how the practice works now. By treating people at their chosen facility and holding costs down where it can, Treating Cancer aims to bring specialist oncology within reach of those who might otherwise find it hard to travel or to pay for a long course of treatment.

For anybody looking for an oncologist in Johannesburg, the broader picture is worth bearing in mind. Comprehensive, integrative cancer care that pulls several specialists together behind one plan is winning growing recognition as a sensible way to give patients a clear route through a complicated illness. Treating Cancer puts one-on-one relationships at the core of that work, setting out to support not just the patient but also the family and friends travelling the road with them.

Patients, families and referring doctors can find full details of the practice, the cancers it treats and its treatment options on the Treating Cancer website at https://treatingcancer.co.za/.

About Treating Cancer

Treating Cancer is the Johannesburg practice of Dr Prinitha Pillay, a specialist radiation oncologist registered under practice number PR0876046. The practice offers comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer care that brings together medical, surgical and radiation oncology alongside supportive services such as nursing and nutrition. Treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, brachytherapy and nuclear medicine, delivered at state-of-the-art facilities in South Africa.

Media Contact
Treating Cancer
Email: reception@treatingcancer.co.za
Phone: +27 66 272 6582
Website: https://treatingcancer.co.za

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