Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

11 September 2025

3-minute read

In a groundbreaking moment in South African paediatric healthcare, Professor Llewellyn Padayachy successfully led a high-stakes brainstem surgery on a brave 3-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening tumour at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, highlighting the transformative impact of paediatric neurosurgery in public healthcare.

Prof Padayachy calls his journey in paediatric neurosurgery “serendipitous at best.”  Starting off his first internship at the Groote Schuur Hospital and then at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital ignited his passion for paediatric neurosurgery. Learning under Professor Jonathan Peter of Neurosurgery, and Professor Heinz Rode of Paediatric Surgery, who taught his students that being able to work in this department was “an absolute privilege,” inspired him to specialize in treating brain tumours in children.

Dr Padayachy’s team has established the Brain Tumour and Translational Neuroscience Centre at the University of Pretoria and Steve Biko Academic Hospital, allowing each specialist to focus on his chosen field and giving them the opportunity to drive their expertise and build through teamwork. Having the right people in the right place supported by the hospital and the faculties makes complex surgeries in children both safe and possible, he says. They have built and grown the department of paediatric neurosurgery, providing minimally invasive surgery, monitoring and imaging.

Working with children is vastly different to working with adults, as it means treating not only the patient but also the family and the extended family, as well as a lifetime of maintenance treatment for the disease. The 3yo who they treated recently was a complex case because of the way her tumour had grown, “invaded critical structures” and spread. It required their multi-disciplinary team to draw on the resources they had built up over the years in neurophysiological monitoring to make the procedure as safe as possible. “It was a long procedure on a tiny little kid,” Dr Padayachy emphasized, but she recovered “amazingly well.” She will receive radiotherapy from the oncology team to shrink whatever tumour there may be left and assistance from the rehabilitation team.

Mentorship is fundamental, and “how we learn” is most essential in producing better outcomes, says Prof Padayachy. He was fortunate to learn under some of the best neurosurgeons both locally and internationally. As a mentor to younger doctors, he proudly states that their last college exam produced two of the best candidates who both passed their neurosurgery exam with distinction.

“The future looks really bright,” Dr Padayachy concludes. With paediatric neurosurgery being “just small part of the bigger medical fraternity,” his vision in putting together the African Paediatric Section is to create a collaborative network of paediatric neurosurgeons across the continent, connecting the community globally to build and grow the faculty of neurosurgery.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Habib Bobat and Professor Llewellyn Padayachy.