Medical professors at hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University(SNU) are known to have indefinitely suspended patient treatment on Monday, in protest of the government's medical reforms, including the medical school admissions quota hike.

An emergency committee of the professors said on Sunday that 529 professors, or around 54-point-seven percent of those offering patient services, had halted or reduced outpatient consultations and deferred surgeries scheduled for Monday through Saturday.

While treatment of emergency and critically ill patients will continue, the committee said treatment at the four SNU-affiliated hospitals in the capital region is expected to decrease by around 40 percent. The surgery room operation rate is forecast to drop to about 34 percent. 

Earlier, the committee declared its plans to suspend services unless the government agreed to completely cancel the administrative measures imposed on trainee doctors who have taken collective action of their own in protest of the quota hike.

On Tuesday, members of the Korean Medical Association(KMA), mostly representing doctors in private practice, are set to shut down their clinics in a show of protest despite a government order for them to continue providing medical services.