``We've been told to be present in Surat for physical verification when the MCI team arrives'', said a paramedical, who has been moved here from Ahmedabad. He is one of the 85-odd shifted to Surat from Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Ahmedabad.

Incidentally, the transfer orders were served on Friday and requested them to join their duties the very next day. ``Surat is at least 18 hours away from Rajkot and Jamnagar'', alleged some of the medical personnel shifted from Saurashtra. ``This is extremely unfair.''

While the transfers surprise no one -- they've become routine exercises among the understaffed medical colleges, especially before MCI visits -- the teaching and non-technical staff are worried that they will continue to be moved from one of the six government-run colleges to another. Many of them have already been through several transfers.

Referring to their transfer orders, which say they are being transferred in ``public interest'', a bitter paramedical said, ``I was transferred to Bhavnagar from Ahmedabad last year in public interest. Now I've been moved to Surat, again in public interest.''

Said a paramedical who has put in 32 years of service in Jamnagar, ``My 78-year-old mother is a patient of hypertension. Now there's no one to look after her in Jamnagar.''

One of her transferred colleagues will retire in October. ``The entire exercise is a farce'', fumed a paramedical.

To top it all, the majority of the transferred staff are yet to be allocated accommodation. While the ones based in Vadodara are shuttling between the two cities, others are spending nights in the hospital, while a few are putting up in students' hostels.

When contacted, the authorities at the Surat Medical College maintained that the newcomers shouldn't be complaining, ``since all government jobs are transferable''. They admitted, however, they weren't too sure how long they would stay. ``Most of them would like to go back to where they came from. But then, where do we get replacements?'' asked a senior official.

The overnight transfers may earn the college the recognition it craves, but it casts grave doubts over the future of the students, who may lose their teachers to ``need-based'' transfers any day.