Nurjahan Begum, the pioneer of females in journalism in Bangladesh, was on life support at the Square Hospitals last night.

The 91-year-old was admitted to the hospital with respiratory problems on Wednesday. She was moved to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) yesterday morning after her condition deteriorated.

Nurjahan Begum has pneumonia and is undergoing treatment under medicine specialist Jahangir Alam, said Samiul Alam, a staff at the hospital.

Nurjahan, the editor of the weekly Begum magazine, began her career in the 1940s and has been the editor for nearly six decades. She received the prestigious Ekushey Padak in 2011.

Born on June 4, 1925, she is a daughter of prominent journalist Mohammad Nasiruddin, editor of Bangla literary journal Saogat.