Two months have passed since a deadly earthquake hit the Noto Peninsula in central Japan on New Year's Day.

Restoring medical services is considered a key step to rebuilding quake-hit areas.

But facilities face ongoing challenges, such as worker shortages and a lack of running water.

One clinic in Noto Town in Ishikawa Prefecture has yet to fully recover.

Patients start arriving at the clinic in the morning. It used to be open until 6 p.m. before the quake. But now it closes three hours earlier because one of its two nurses is no longer able to work.

The clinic has been without running water since the disaster. A storage tank provides water for hand washing.

NHK confirmed 26 of 35 clinics in affected areas in Ishikawa Prefecture, including Noto Town, had reopened by March 1.

But challenging conditions have forced about 30 percent of them to limit their services.

Some only accept patients who used to come before the quake, and some are only offering prescriptions.

Sejima Teruhiro, the head of the clinic in Noto Town, is worried about an increase of patients with serious conditions.

Sejima said, "We have few patients now, so the situation is stable. But I'm worried an imbalance between the number of patients and our capacity could lead to a strain."

Saito Noritoshi is a member of the Japan Medical Association Team, or JMAT. The group is supporting clinics in the disaster-hit areas.

Saito is also concerned.

Saito said, "Clinics are coping with limited equipment. They can't even do blood tests."

Saito says the central and prefectural governments need to support medical institutions as key infrastructure.