Medical professors and private doctors are set to reduce their working hours starting this week amid a prolonged medical crisis in the nation.

In a meeting of the emergency committee of the Korean Medical Association(KMA), the country's biggest doctors' group, on Sunday, it was decided that private practitioners will start to work 40 hours per week.

Kim Sung-geun, the committee’s public relations official, said that while the KMA cannot force its members to reduce their work hours, many agreed on the move and it’s expected the decision to work reduced hours will naturally spread among the members.

The decision comes a day after medical professors announced a plan to reduce their working hours from Monday by minimizing the treatment of outpatients and scaling back surgeries. 

An emergency steering committee of a medical professors' group announced on Saturday that medical professors will scale back their hours as they have reached their physical limit amid the prolonged collective action taken by trainee doctors.

The move comes a week after a separate association of medical professors cut back their weekly work hours to 52.