The health ministry is leaning toward approving nighttime drug sales on condition that instructions on medication are given to retailers by pharmacists by videophone, ministry officials said Thursday.

There has been contentious debate over whether such videophone-based sales contravene the pharmaceutical law, which obliges drug retailers to have pharmacists in stores when drugs are sold.

According to the officials, a ministry policy draft says nighttime and early morning drug sales by using information technology such as videophones are permissible in cases where retailers handle pharmaceutical products during regular hours through their pharmacists.

A study group of experts of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry received the draft Thursday.

One member of the group said a system should be set up to cope with emergency situations, such as drug side effects, which require smooth communication between drug retailers and medical institutions.

Further meetings will be held to work out details, including how to instruct counter staff who handle drugs in the absence of pharmacists, as well as the possibility of limiting the authorization to a certain number of specific drugs.

The ministry will make a final decision later this month, the officials said.

The issue came to attention when the Don Quijote Co. discount store chain began selling drugs and medicine at night by using videophones linking its outlets to pharmacists.

The health ministry ordered Don Quijote to stop the sales, saying they violated the law.

Don Quijote then switched to catalog-based nighttime drug sales, which it claims are legal.

The company stopped the catalog sales to await the outcome of the debate by the study group, which was formed in October.

In November, Matsumotokiyoshi Co., another leading discount store chain, said it is ready to introduce a similar drug-selling service using videophones.