For many South African families, a cancer diagnosis opens onto a bewildering sequence of appointments, specialists and choices, and the toughest question is often just where to start. A Johannesburg practice called Treating Cancer was founded on a more straightforward premise: a single, coordinated team that walks with the patient from the very first consultation, through treatment, and into the period that follows. At its helm is Dr Prinitha Pillay, a specialist radiation oncologist, whose practice unites medical, surgical and radiation expertise so that patients are spared the task of stitching their own care together piece by piece.
With August 2026 turning national attention back towards prevention and early screening, Treating Cancer is drawing attention to what a multidisciplinary approach can offer people who have just been diagnosed or are still weighing their choices. Rates of cancer keep climbing, and a great many patients are only diagnosed at a late stage, which is exactly why clear guidance and thorough treatment planning matter so much. By having the whole team review each case before any treatment decision is settled, the practice sets out to take some of that uncertainty off the patient's shoulders.
What anchors the model is a multidisciplinary team drawing together medical, surgical and radiation oncologists, a medical physicist, radiotherapists, specialised nurses and a nutritionist. Because every case passes through this group, no plan rests on a single viewpoint. Dr Pillay, a seasoned oncologist, assembles the medical information the team requires, and then talks through the risks and benefits of each avenue and what it might mean for a patient's quality of life. The intention is a plan shaped around the individual rather than a standard pathway applied to everyone.
The treatments available to patients span the full modern spectrum. Among them are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, brachytherapy, radiofrequency ablation, nuclear medicine and contemporary surgical oncology techniques. On the radiation side, advanced tools such as external beam radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy and image-guided radiation therapy make it possible to sculpt a high dose around a tumour while leaving neighbouring healthy tissue largely untouched. All of this is provided at state-of-the-art facilities fitted with current technology.
A wide array of cancers falls within the practice's scope, among them breast, gynaecological, gastrointestinal, thoracic, head and neck, genitourinary, neurological, bone, musculoskeletal, dermatological, ocular and paediatric cancers. That range allows patients and referring doctors to rely on one practice across many diagnoses, secure in the knowledge that specialists from every relevant discipline weigh in on each case.
Ease of access is woven deliberately into the design. Because Dr Pillay consults and treats patients at the facility of their choosing, unnecessary costs can be kept in check, and the Johannesburg base is easy to reach for those travelling in from other parts of the country or from overseas. For patients juggling time away from work or home, flexible treatment schedules can be arranged, and patient information is held in confidence at every stage. Consultation hours run from 7am to 7pm.
The practice looks past the treatments alone to the lived experience of cancer. Supportive and nutritional care are built into the plan, and specialised nurses guide patients through the everyday demands of treatment. The practice frames its purpose as standing beside patients rather than tackling a disease in isolation, centring its work on courage and dignity instead of illness alone.
Much of the practice's standing traces back to Dr Pillay's own record. Her qualifications include 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 her move into oncology, she devoted years to 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. In 2011 the Mail and Guardian named her one of its top ten Women in Health, and she subsequently 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 medical information already collected and sets out what the multidisciplinary review will entail. Referring doctors stay in the loop throughout, and the practice shapes its schedules around their needs as much as the patient's. The point of this coordination is to cut down on the number of separate appointments a patient must attend and to ensure everyone involved is working from a single, shared plan.
That focus on advanced radiation technology speaks to how far the discipline has moved. Approaches like intensity-modulated radiotherapy and image-guided radiation therapy allow a tumour to be targeted with far greater precision, helping to shield the organs and tissue around it. Paired, where suitable, with chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, this spread of options lets the team match treatment to the specific type and stage of a cancer instead of leaning on any one method.
Access has run like a thread through Dr Pillay's whole career, from her humanitarian postings to her advocacy for rural health, and it still informs how the practice runs day to day. By treating patients at their chosen facility and holding costs down wherever it can, Treating Cancer works to keep specialist oncology within reach of people who might otherwise find the travel or the expense of a long treatment course out of reach.
For anyone looking for an oncologist in Johannesburg, the broader picture is worth bearing in mind. Comprehensive, integrative cancer care that pulls several specialists together under one plan is winning growing recognition as a sensible way to give patients a clear route through a difficult illness. Treating Cancer builds one-on-one relationships into the very core of that process, seeking to support not just the patient but the family and friends travelling the road with them.
Patients, families and referring doctors can explore 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 provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer care that combines medical, surgical and radiation oncology with supportive services including nursing and nutrition. Its treatments range across chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, brachytherapy and nuclear medicine, all delivered at state-of-the-art facilities in South Africa.
Media Contact
Treating Cancer
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +27 66 272 6582
Website: https://treatingcancer.co.za
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