How do you think hospitals work in the Pokémon world?

UnovanZorua · December 14

I randomly thought of the fact that you can get your Pokémon healed up and have any problems like poison, burning, paralysis, etc. cured, all for free in a Pokémon Center (unless you're in Po Town, where it's for 10 Poké, which is so cheap that a bottle of fresh water from a vending machine is more expensive).

Multiple NPCs mention that it's all free, without mentioning any conditions, so it's probably not just only free for kids (since all the protagonists are kids).

But how does it work for humans? Is healthcare in the Pokémon world free?

TheJeffers · December 14

Are you trying to spark a politics debate on the forum? Because I don't think that is a good idea.

Viewing it strictly on its face in the context of the games, the Pokémon world is an idealised world where many serious real world problems are either handwaved or not addressed. Everyone seems to largely live comfortable, trouble-free lives.

The primary exceptions seem to be legendary Pokémon getting uppity or evil teams enacting terrorist acts, but these days even the evil teams mostly engage in petty mischief more than actual crime.

Older games in the series tended to depict or allude more to real world issues, hence you get Lt. Surge mentioning using his Pokémon in "the war" and criminals like burglars appear as enemies and NPCs. But even then healing was free. It was a game mechanic, not necessarily to be taken as the developers' perspective on a health care system.

In a children's franchise, I think we can generally assume that everyone gets the help they need and we can expect to see health care and health care professionals depicted as largely positive, benevolent and helpful healers ubiquitous throughout the world.

Don't ask about how it works or who's paying for it. That's 'adult' stuff.

Flametix · December 14

lots of pokedex entries talk about pokemon being used for natural remedies which makes sense and are readily available

on the other hand wally is sick and all they can do is move away but he gets better anyway

UnovanZorua · December 14

https://community.pokemon.com/en-us/discussion/comment/59288#Comment_59288

I only realised that this could lead to a kind of discussion that should not be somewhere like this a while after I made the post. I don't want to see people talk about their political opinions, I just want to think too much about what small details in a kid's franchise mean and see what others think it means. Hopefully without anyone turning it into a discussion about the real world.

I don't think anyone working on the lore thought about this, though, that's for sure. It'd be unnecessarily complicated for a kid's game where it's not relevant at all. There's probably no canon answer.

Anyways, I forgot to include my ideas in the post, so:

Maybe having magical creatures that can create water, fire, steel, and more stuff makes everything cheap or even free?

Maybe, if Pokémon Centers also take care of human injuries, the patients don't need need to pay because Pokémon Centers probably get enough money from Poké Marts (which are probably closely related to them since they're usually near or in a Pokémon Center), which charge you for items double the price you can sell them for, and therefore probably make lots of money?

Maybe it costs money for humans to go to hospitals, but Pokémon, as magical creatures with strange abilities are much easier to heal? (since random strangers sometimes just heal your Pokémon after you beat theirs and take their money)

Come to think of it, have we ever seen what happens to a person after they get injured? Do humans also just spray potions on themselves and drink lemonade whenever they get tired or injured?

Do they use the medicines you can get at a Poké Mart or do those only work on Pokémon? Humans used to be Pokémon after all (maybe they still are), so they might work similarly. (Also, it's common for animals to be given human medicine when sick, just in extremely, extremely small quantities, so the Potions and medicine you find at Poké Marts might just be very weak human medicine)

I'm definitely overthinking normal video game mechanics that aren't made with stuff like this in mind, but I love thinking about the lore and what random stuff no one making the game thought of implies. It's fun to do.